Mogadishu - At least 22 people were killed and 27 others wounded after an anti-aircraft missile accidentally exploded at an abandoned military garrison in south Mogadishu on Monday.
"The explosion was caused by a Soviet-made SAM-3 missile, which was left behind there by the armed forces" of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre when he was toppled in January 1991, said Soviet-trained former Somali air defence force member Colonel Ali Alasow Mohamed.
A SAM-3 missile weighs two tons, Mohamed said.
One witness said the explosion was triggered by a man named Said Moalin Farah, who was trying to extract some copper metal from the old weapon.
He was among those killed, the witness added. - Sapa-AFP