Abdulkadir Khalif
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
She and four of her six children were wounded when insurgents attacked forces of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Wardigley district in central Mogadishu. Her husband, Said Abdi Farah, was killed when a shell landed on their house.
Faduma and her injured children were admitted to Madina Hospital in south Mogadishu.
Said Faduma: "I am happy that my children were treated and discharged."
According to Mr Ali Malim Mohamed Adde, a member of the hospital's management team, there are 90 victims at the facility recovering from various wounds. He said most of the injuries were caused by shell fragments and bullets.
"In the past 48 hours, the hospital has received 33 victims with different types of wounds." he said. "Sixteen of those admitted are still in the hospital, 15 were discharged and two died while undergoing treatment." Mr Mohamed Hassan Isak is among the patients recently admitted to Madina Hospital. But unlike Faduma, Isak cannot speak because a bullet went through his mouth and interfered with his voice box, impairing his speech
Other patients with serious wounds include Ms Zahra Hashi and Nasra Mukhtar Nur. Like other patients, they are tired of the fighting and are pleading for an end to the hostilities.
Meanwhile, Al-Shabaab, the youth wing of the Islamist movement in Somalia, has captured the strategic district of Bardale, 300 kilometres southwest of Mogadishu.
Bardale town lies 60 kilometres west of Baidoa, the seat of Somalia's Transitional Federal Parliament. According to the group's spokesman, Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur, the Islamists took control of the district on Monday afternoon. The takeover was peaceful, with the administration appointed by the Federal Government having fled when in the face of the Al-Shabaab onslaught.
Source: Daily Nation, May 14, 2008