afrol News, 10 November - Gunfight in Somali's capital Mogadishu has killed six people wounding dozens of others after insurgents attacked African Union peacekeepers base, witnesses have said.

Doctors at Medina and Dayniile hospitals also confirmed that six people died in the city's two main hospitals, but said death toll was likely higher.

Meanwhile, an aid worker has been shot dead by unknown gunmen in southern Somali town of Jamame, in lower Jubba province, latest in series of killing of humanitarian workers in war-ravaged Horn of Africa country, local media reports said.

Mohamed Saakow, a Somali who worked for Mercy Corps aid agency, was killed Saturday night as he walked out of a mosque in Jamame, about 440 kilometers south of Mogadishu, said Januune Ali, a village elder.

A gunmen, reportedly armed with pistols, escaped after killing official who was Programme Coordinator of Mercy Corps in the town which is under control of Al-shabaab Islamist group.

In September, group issued a ban on operations of two International aid agencies and a warning to other aid agencies which they accused of being anti-Islamic activities, but movement said last month it withdrew its decision after pressure from locally respected clan elders.

Foreigners, journalists and aid workers are frequently abducted for ransoms in Somalia. They also have been targeted for killings by unknown assailants.

To date least 16 aid workers have died this year in Somalia, which is caught up in a civil war with Islamic insurgents.

Thousands of civilians have been killed in the fighting and hundreds of thousands have fled the capital. More than 2 million people are dependent on food aid in Somalia, and control of aid often has provoked fighting among Somalia's clan-based warlords.

Somalia has not had a stable government since 1991. Islamist rebels reportedly took over Mogadishu briefly along with other areas in central and southern Somalia before Somali and Ethiopian armed forces ousted them in early 2007.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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