Mogadishu, (Sunatimes)  At least 3 children and an elderly woman were wounded on Wednesday after Al-Shabab militias fired a mortar shell towards civilian patients waiting to be treated at a free clinic run by African Union peacekeepers in Somalia, officials and witnesses said.

The attack which happened around lunchtime occurred close to the African Union peacekeepers main base in Mogadishu.

The mortar is said to have crushed into a house close to where hundreds of Somali patients were waiting to get into the AMISOM base to receive free treatment.

AMISOM later issued a statement condemning the attack and saying it was cowardly attack.

“This is a desperate attempt by the extremist to harm civilians. As you know they have publicly threatened the poor people whom AMISOM is helping not to seek medical assistance from our hospitals. It is very unfortunate that innocent civilians have again been wounded by the extremists. The four wounded persons are receiving treatment at our hospital and are in a stable condition,’ AMISOM Spokesman Major Ba-Hoku Barigye told Sunatimes.com

Hussein Abdi, who witnessed the attack, says they heard a loud explosion in the afternoon as hundreds of patients gathered outside waiting to be screened before they could be allowed into the AMISOM base.

“The mortar landed in a house. An elderly woman and three children one of them a boy were wounded. The boy was seriously hurt as shrapnel’s pierced through his head. AMISOM medics rushed in immediately and stabilized them before taking them to their hospital. Al-Shabab is a coward gang that only knows how to kill and maim the civilians. Why don’t they go and face the soldiers in the frontline,” Abdi said outside the house where the incident happened.

Al-Shabab officials could not immediately confirm or deny the attack. Their phones went unanswered.

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