Health worker, residents say 8 killed in fighting in Somali capital; hundreds flee

8 killed in fighting in Somali capital

MOGADISHU, Somalia — At least eight people, including a six-year-old, were killed Friday as mortars pounded the Somali capital during an attack on government soldiers by an extremist Islamic group, witnesses said, as hundreds of residents fled Mogadishu.

"...one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought." - Albert Einstein