Four school children killed in bus attack in Mogadishu

At least four students were killed and 15 others wounded when heavily armed gunmen opened fire on a school bus in south Mogadishu on Wednesday, a local journalist told IRIN on Thursday. The incident took place in Wardigley district when the gunmen attacked the bus shortly after it had picked up the students from the Ahmad Gurey School, near Ali Kamiin junction. "Those killed were between the ages 16 and 19," said the source. Most of the wounded were taken to the Hayat and Medina hospitals in south Mogadishu. Dr Muhammad Mahmud of Hayat hospital told IRIN that eight students - three boys and five girls had been brought to his hospital. All were recovering well, except for two. One girl with a head wound was still in a coma. A boy who sustained a spinal injury was also in a serious condition, he said. The motive for the attack is unclear, but is reported to be related to infighting between two Hawiye clans - the Saleeban (Habar Gedir) and Murusade. "There has been continuous skirmishing between the two sides in the last couple of days," said the journalist. Another source told IRIN that the attackers, thought to be militia from the Saleeban, probably mistook the bus for a vehicle belonging to the Murusade. "They have been targeting each others' property and individuals," said Ahmad Haji, a Mogadishu businessman. The attack on the bus followed an increase in robberies, car-jackings, kidnappings and general banditry in the city over the last few months, sources told IRIN. "Not a day goes by without someone's car being car-jacked or someone kidnapped," said one source. "This, unfortunately, is part of the escalating level of insecurity in Mogadishu. It seems no one is safe and nothing is sacred." Most of the perpetrators involved in the current crime wave are said to be freelance militias who are not under the control of any faction or political group. It would take a combined effort on the part of the Transitional National Government (TNG) and the Mogadishu factions to bring it under control, said Haji. Many of the criminals were taking advantage of the divisions between the TNG and the factions. "When they commit a crime in areas under the TNG's jurisdiction, they go and hide in faction areas and vice-versa," Haji told IRIN.