Bartamaha (Kampala):- FOUR Ugandan peacekeepers were killed and eight others injured yesterday in the Somali capital Mogadishu when al-Shabaab rebels fired mortars at the presidential palace, an African Union spokesman said.

Uganda and Burundi have deployed more than 6,300 troops to the anarchic Horn of Africa nation to guard the port and airport and shield President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed from attack.

The AU’s peacekeepers concentrate their efforts on shielding the president and guarding the port and airport.

“We lost four Ugandan soldiers in mortar fire on Villa Somalia this morning,” AU spokesman Barigye Ba-Hoku said, referring to the presidential palace.

Another eight Ugandan soldiers were wounded, he said.

The AU forces are locked in heavy fighting with the Islamist rebels who want to topple the transitional administration. Last week, the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab group vowed to intensify its holy war against the UN-backed government which it denounces as a puppet of the West.

Yesterday the Somali leader said his government needed more international assistance against the militants who launched their first attack on foreign soil in July, killing 79 people in Kampala.

“It is quite impractical to expect Somalia alone to contain the evil alliance of al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab, as Somalia is emerging from 20 years of destruction and a chaotic political environment,” Ahmed said in a statement.

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Source:- New Vision

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