At Least 9 People Killed And 10 Wounded in Heavy Fighting in Mogadishu on Wednesday

At least nine people were killed and 10 wounded in heavy fighting in Mogadishu on Wednesday in the latest confrontation between Ethiopian troops and Islamist-led insurgents, witnesses said.

Residents said nearly 100 heavily armed insurgents shouting “God is great” launched an attack on an Ethiopian and Somali government troops base in the north-eastern neighborhoods of Huriwaa, prompting fierce gun battles and exchanges of mortar rounds.

“The fighting started around 12:30 pm local time and continued for about two hours,” said a local resident Abdiwali Mohamud. “I have counted the dead bodies of four civilians caught in the cross fire,”

Another resident, Abdinur Shiekh said he saw from the rooftop of his house two dead government soldiers and three insurgents, lying in the middle of the road.

The Somali government and Ethiopia believe Hurwa and Suqa-holaha neighborhoods of the northeastern edges of the city are a hotbed of insurgents, and have routinely attacked the area for the past one and half years.

Salado Mahad, a kiosk owner in Hurwa Market said Ethiopians had fired into a butchery wounding seven people, two of them women.

A mortar shell landed near a house in Yaqshid district away from the battlefield, wounding three people.

“Two mortar rounds hit two homes next to each other in our village. The first one injured no one, but the second one has wounded a mother and her 15 year-old son,” said a resident, Mohamed Abdulle Warsame.

Source African Press Agency

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