Somali presidential palace shelled

Four African Union (AU) peacekeepers have been killed in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, after al-Shabab fighters fired a mortar at the presidential palace. "A mortar was fired at one of our positions, and it killed four soldiers and injured eight," said Ba-Hoku Barigye, a spokesman for the peacekeeping force. Barigye said the dead soldiers are all Ugandan. Uganda and Burundi have deployed more than 6,300 troops to support Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG). The AU pledged last month to expand the force, with both Guinea and Djibouti promising new troops. Monday's mortar attack was the latest bloody clash in a week of heavy fighting between al-Shabab and the peacekeepers. At least six people were killed in several battles on Wednesday, and al-Shabab fighters killed nearly 40 people on Tuesday in a suicide bombing at a Mogadishu hotel.