Somalia - At least 19 civilians have been killed after mortar shells smashed residential areas in the war-ravaged Somali capital of Mogadishu, Press TV reported.

Al-Shabab fighters launched surprise attacks on Somalia's transitional government forces in Mogadishu's southern neighborhoods of Daynile and Gupta late on Thursday.

Fierce clashes broke out in the aftermath of the attacks with the two sides exchanging heavy gunfire and barrages of mortar shells.

Eleven civilians, all members of the same family, were killed after a mortar shell landed on their home. Seven children and their mother were also killed during the heavy shelling in southern Mogadishu.

Meanwhile, at least 82 civilian suffered injuries as they were caught in the crossfire between Al-Shabab fighters and Somali government forces.

Somali medical workers could not carry the wounded away from the clashes.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

Strategically located in the Horn of Africa, Somalia remains one of the countries generating the highest number of refugees and internally displaced persons in the world.

MP/AZ/MB

Source: Press TV