Freetown - At least 31 people including young children were killed in the Sierra Leone capital early yesterday when Nigerian troops fired shells at container ships violating an embargo against the ruling junta, sources said.
Some shells hit a crowded dockside market place, according to Freetown police. A reporter saw 15 mangled corpses, including those of eight women and three children, in the capital's main mortuary. The limbs of several victims had been severed from their bodies.
"They started coming in around 6.30 a.m. and we had to put out an alert for nurses to report early to assist," said Dr Samuel Walker, a pathologist. "From what I have seen these people have died from shock and excess bleeding. I consider their deaths both painful and gruesome," he added.
Junta sources said 19 people were killed when Nigerian troops based near the international airport fired on dockside areas in an unsuccessful attempt to deter the two ships, which had berthed late on Tuesday, unloading tonnes of rice and other foodstuffs.