Heavy Gun Battle Kills 10 Civilians, Injures Many in Somali Capital

A heavy gun battle between Islamist insurgents and government soldiers aided by Ethiopian troops rocked the north of Mogadishu on Thursday afternoon, killing 10 civilians and wounding 20 others, residents and officials told APA.

The fighting began after the heavily armed Islamists attacked Gulwada Yasha camp, north of Mogadishu, where government soldiers are stationed, and at about the same time, another gun battle rocked the former soccer stadium in north Mogadishu, where the Ethiopian soldiers are stationed.

The fighting was followed by mortar shells which rained down on districts which are far from the areas of fighting. But both sides used heavy weapons including mortar shells, rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapons.

“Two women died and 8 others, including six children of one of the dead women was seriously injured as she was sitting in front of her home and a mortar shell hit them,” Osman Olow, the uncle of the injured children, told APA by telephone.

This incident occurred at Laba Dhagah district of north Mogadishu.

The death toll is expected to rise as the clash took place when it was getting dark and all Mogadishu streets were blocked by government soldiers and Ethiopian troops for security purposes and no one was allowed to go anywhere near the affected areas.

Abdi Rahen Isee Adow, spokesman of the Islamic Courts Union told APA by telephone that the insurgents killed 10 soldiers and chased them from their camp and he also confirmed that two of the Islamist militias died in the battle and three others were injured.

This ongoing violence in Mogadishu comes despite the new truce agreement recently signed between the Somali government and the opposition alliance based in Asmara, a group which included both moderates and hardliners, and which was meant to end the Iraq-style insurgency and usher in a ceasefire in the beleaguered capital city.

Somalia had been plunged in anarchy after the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, when warlords used their clan-based militias to fall over the dictator then fought each other for power, leading to constant inter-clan war which left thousands killed and millions displaced.

Source African Press Agency

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