By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN (AP)

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Mortars slammed into a home for disabled veterans in Somalia’s capital, killing at least 12 disabled men and wounding nearly a dozen, officials said Saturday.

Islamic insurgents fired mortars Friday night toward Mogadishu’s port, but they landed in residential areas, including a home for former national army officers who lost limbs during the 1977 war with Ethiopia, said government spokesman Shiek Abdirisaq Qeylow. Three civilians in other areas also were killed.

Somalia has been ravaged by violence and anarchy since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, then turned on each other. A moderate Islamist was elected president in January in hopes that he could unite the country’s feuding factions, but the violence has continued unabated.

The government and African Union peacekeepers hold only a few blocks of Mogadishu. A powerful insurgent group called al-Shabab, which has foreign fighters in its ranks, operates openly in the capital and seeks to overthrow the government and impose a strict form of Islam in Somalia.

Mogadishu sees near-daily violence with both sides of the conflict accused of indiscriminate shelling. The Martini war veterans building is near the port — one of the few areas in the capital controlled by the government and peacekeepers.

“It is a horrific and inhumane to shell civilian areas,” said Somali human rights activist Ali Sheik Fadhaa. video management, video solution, video streaming

Many experts fear the country’s lawlessness could provide a haven for al-Qaida, offering a place for terrorists to train and gather strength — much like Afghanistan in the 1990s. The United States accuses al-Shabab of having ties to the terror network, which al-Shabab denies.

Somalia’s lawlessness also has allowed piracy to flourish off its coast, making the Gulf of Aden one of the most dangerous waterways in the world.