Somalia: Human Rights Chief Decries Steep Rise In Civilian Casualties(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The UN human rights chief Volker Türk says a steep rise in civilian casualties across Somalia, largely at the hands of Al-Shabaab militants, has exacerbated an already grim human rights and humanitarian situation there. Some casualties have been due to Government security forces, clan militia and other unidentified actors, according to the UN rights office, OHCHR. An earlier Al-Shabaab attack on Mogadishu’s Hayat Hotel on 21 August, killed at least 22 civilians and injured 30. “Deliberately targeting civilians and destroying, as such, objects indispensable to the civilian population, constitutes war crimes under international law. The rights chief also stressed the crucial need for accountability for gross violations of international law, saying it was key to any serious effort to end the decades-long vicious cycle of violence across Somalia.