By Aweys Yusuf
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali President Abdullahi Yusufescaped unhurt from a mortar attack on his official residencein the capital on Saturday, hours after returning to Mogadishufrom an overseas trip, one of his aides said.
"Four mortars were fired at the presidential palace. Threeof them landed outside, while one landed inside the compound.No one was hurt," the aide, who declined to be named, toldReuters.
He confirmed that Yusuf was in the heavily guardedpresidential compound at the time of the shelling, but it wasunclear whether the attack was directly targeting thepresident, whose forces are battling an Islamist insurgency.
Yusuf arrived in Mogadishu in the morning after seekingmedical treatment abroad. The 73-year-old, who had a livertransplant nearly 14 years ago, left Somalia on January 4, amonth after a chest illness sparked a health scare.
Presidential spokesman Hussein Mohamud Hubsired saidYusuf's main priority was to "hasten the government's works"and to continue reconciliation efforts to establish lastingpeace.
A local human rights group said on Saturday that nearly 300civilians were killed last month in Mogadishu.
The chairman of the Elman Peace and Human RightsOrganisation, Sudan Ali Ahmed, said 292 civilians were killedand 385 wounded in January alone.
He estimated that 2 million Somalis had fled their homes inthe capital since Islamist leaders were routed from theirstrongholds in January 2007, triggering an insurgency byremnants of the movement.
Ahmed said his group had 116 staff who worked undercover tocollate numbers of casualties.
"Sometimes we happen to witness the incidents ourselves andwe generally coordinate with local hospitals and the media,"Ahmed told Reuters in a phone interview.
Insurgents have carried out bombings and grenade attacks,drawing retaliatory gunfire from government troops and theirEthiopian allies.
Ahmed accused the international community of paying noattention to abuses in the Horn of Africa country, whichspiralled into chaos when warlords toppled dictator MohamedSiad Barre in 1991.
"We can call what is happening in Somalia genocide. Theinternational community ignores the human rights breaches inthe country," he told Reuters by telephone.
"The world should focus on Somalia more because thepopulation is more vulnerable than ever before and all warcrimes in the country must be tried in an internationalcriminal court."
(Additional reporting by Abdi Sheikh; Writing by KatieNguyen; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
