MOGADISHU, Somalia Mar 29 (Garowe Online) - The death toll in Saturday' s shelling of the Somali capital's main Bakara market has increased to 21 deaths, including six women, reliable sources said.

Another 42 wounded civilians were being treated at local hospitals.

The shelling followed a mortar attack on the presidential palace, where Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf was meeting with Ethiopia's foreign affairs minister, Seyoum Mesfin.

There was no information on the damage caused by the mortars, since the presidential palace is in a heavily-guarded part of Mogadishu.

Locals say Ethiopian troops responded to the mortars by bombarding Bakara market with artillery shells.

The market was very crowded when the shells hit, witnesses said. Strategic roads and intersections leading into Bakara market had been reopened over the past three days, a development that has helped attract more consumers to the country's largest marketplace.

Thousands of civilians have been killed in the crossfire between Islamist insurgents and government troops since January 2007, when Mogadishu's Islamic rulers were overthrown by the Ethiopian army.

Source: Garowe Online