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Eight killed in mortar attack on Somali parliament

mortars(CNN) — Mortar rounds slammed into Somali parliament on Saturday, killing at least six people and injuring 15, sources in Mogadishu told CNN.

The fatalities included a soldier and three school children who were killed when the rounds struck a nearby school, Mogadishu police spokesman Hussein Osman Dhumal said.

The attack was carried out by “those who oppose peace in Somalia, ” Dhumal added.

Members of parliament were meeting when the attack occurred, according to Osman Elmiboqore, the deputy speaker of parliament.

“While we concluded our session, the prime minister and the House speaker were leaving from the venue when mortars started landing around the building,” he said.

Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke “is safe” and no parliament member was injured, authorities said.

The strike comes one day after the Somali prime minister called for the U.N. arms embargo to be lifted so the government can fight back against the pirates and local militant Islamist groups.

“One of our biggest problems is that al-Shabaab has AK-47s, and the pirates have AK-47s, and the government has AK-47s,” the prime minister said in Nairobi, Kenya.

“You can’t expect the government to win against such a problem. The only way is to have sufficient capability, and it starts with lifting the arms embargo,” Sharmarke said. “You know, we have been handicapped by those sanctions.”

The arms embargo on Somalia has been in effect for more than 16 years. Most serviceable weapons and almost all ammunition currently available in the country have been delivered since 1992, in violation of the embargo, according to the U.N. Security Council.

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