More Than 10 Killed And 20 Injured in Mogadishu

More than 10 people were killed and 25 wounded in fierce fighting between Somali government troops and their Ethiopian allies and Islamic insurgents in Mogadishu on Monday, residents reported on Tuesday. The fighting started when heavily armed insurgents launched an attack on an Ethiopian and government troops’ base at the former Pasta Factory in the Hurwa neighborhoods, north-east of the Mogadishu.

The fighting claimed the lives of at least 10 civilians as both sides exchanged fire with mortars, rocket- propelled grenades and heavy weapons.

“We were about 40 people who gathered under a wall as a shield from the mortars, but unfortunately one landed near us killing six people, including a child and his mother and many others wounded,” said Shamsa Kheyre, one of the residents who spoke to APA on the phone from Medina Hospital

“The face-to-face fighting between the rivals lasted less than an hour but heavy shelling from the Ethiopians on residential areas, which followed, caused the civilian casualties,” said another resident, Dahir Mohamud Garuun.

The deputy director of the Medina Hospital, Dr Dahir Dhere, told AP that around 19 injured, including four children, had been admitted to his clinic. A two-year-old girl died of her injuries immediately after she was brought to the hospital.

The police spokesman and commander of the Wali Yowade police station, Abdulahi Hassan Brise confirmed that government troops came under heavy attack by insurgents but did not reveal the number of casualties.

The fighting marked the second bloody day in Mogadishu. On Monday a roadside bomb killed more than 17 people, most of them women street sweepers, and wounded more than 50.

Source African Press Agency

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