Shells fired at Somali airport, US official unhurt

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Mortar shells were fired toward Mogadishu airport as a plane carrying a US congressman took off safely from the Somali capital on Monday, a police officer said. A hospital official said 19 civilians were injured in residential areas. None of the six fired mortar shells landed in the airport and the plane carrying New Jersey Democrat Donald Payne took off safely, said Col. Mohamed Idi, a police officer at the airport. He said no one was hurt in the airport. Idi told The Associated Press some of the shells landed in a nearby residential area. Medina Hospital Administrator Ali Adde said 19 civilians, mostly women and children, were injured when the shells landed in residential areas.Nine were admitted to the hospital and nine had light injuries, Adde said.