At least 22 people were killed and 27 others wounded on Tuesday after an anti-aircraft missile accidentally exploded at an abandoned military garrison in south Mogadishu, witnesses and officials said.
Most of those killed were members of families living around the abandoned military compound, including children.
"The explosion was caused by a Soviet-made SAM-3 missile, which was there left behind by the armed forces" of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre when he was toppled in January 1991, Soviet-trained former Somali air defense force member Colonel Ali Alasow Mohamed told AFP.
During the explosion, a house in the vicinity was also partially destroyed, by the SAM-3 missile, which weighs some two tons.
Residents said that children usually play on the empty compound of the abandoned Somali Air Defense Force's Gantalaha Camp, where many old explosives can still be found.
One witness told AFP that the explosion was triggered by a man called Said Moalin Farah, who was trying to extract some copper metal from the weapon. He was among those killed, the witness added.
Civilians were once prohibited from settling near the area where the incident took place, but after Barre's overthrow and the resulting anarchy, land grabbers moved in and built houses and commercial premises even within the military compound.
Somali interim President Abdulkassim Salat Hassan immediately sent a message of condolence to the families of the victims, saying that his administration would investigate the matter.
Salat regime's armed forces commander Ismail Qasim Naji also pledged to clear the area from all explosives and urged civilians not to touch any object for their own safety.
"The presence of those weapons is a permanent threat to the people of Somalia, and the army would do all it can to prevent such tragic incidents," Naji, who was appointed armed forces commander last week, told a crowd at scene of the explosion.
Abandoned weapons and landmines are still prevalent in most regions of Somalia, military officials told AFP here on Tuesday.
In May this year, at least 22 people were killed and 12 wounded when explosives blew up on a lorry on which they were being transported from Mogadiscio to Hiran in central Somalia.
The explosion occurred inside the vehicle, which was transporting passengers as well as explosives -- MOGADISHU (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
