The remains of a African-Union tank in a crater in the middle of the road passing by the former Presidential Palace in Old Mogadishu.
The gutted remains of the former National Assembly buildings.
Some of the destruction of Old Mogadishu in the distance, as seen from one of the IDP camps in Mogadishu.
One thing you can't get away from in Mogadishu, is the scale of the damage caused by the decades long war. I can't imagine the ferocity of the fighting that has caused this amount of damage. Every single building in Old Mogadishu, without exception, has thousands of bullet pockmarks in them. Another thing that surprised me is that they are on every side of these buildings, meaning the shooting was coming from every angle. Trees, poles, the few remaining lamposts and barriers, everything is covered in bulletholes of various sizes, some of these buildings have been blown away by tanks, RPG's and various other weapons.
This is scene of a donkey cart on KM 4 in the new part of Mogadishu, I shot this scene above on 8th September 2011, on October the 4th 2011, militant Group al-Shabab blew up a truck bomb at the Ministry of Education, (just to the right of this frame) killing over 70 students waiting for results of their scholarships. So, the destruction continues...
