More than 30 people died in the Somali capital of Mogadishu as government forces launched an attack to retake territory lost to Islamist insurgents in the last few weeks, reports said yesterday.
Witnesses said that government forces attacked insurgent positions in three different locations in north Mogadishu on Friday and that the warring parties exchanged mortar fire.
Insurgents in headscarves exchanged fire with pro-government militia as members of both groups roamed the streets in pickups mounted with machine guns.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Witness said they saw bodies of both government soldiers and insurgents lying in the streets. A prominent journalist and other civilians were killed by stray bullets and shells and casualties streamed into the Medina Hospital. More than 90 people were injured.
Fighting continued all day, with both sides claiming victory.
Somali Defense Minister Mohamed Abdi Gandi said that the government had managed to retake some of its positions, but a spokesman for the al-Shabaab insurgent group said that it had successfully defended its positions, Radio Garowe reported.
Insurgent groups al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam launched an offensive two weeks ago in an attempt to push out the weak government of Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a moderate Islamist who once worked alongside the insurgents.
Hundreds of people, many of them civilians, have died and almost 50,000 have fled Mogadishu during that period.
Sheik Sharif’s government, propped up by 4,300 African Union (AU) peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi, controls only small sections of Mogadishu, while the insurgents hold sway across much of southern and central Somalia.
The peacekeepers were not involved in the fighting, as they do not have a mandate to pursue the insurgents.
Sheikh Sharif has implemented Shariah, or Islamic law, and has attempted to build bridges with the warring groups. However, the insurgents say Sheikh Sharif, who came to power earlier this year as part of a UN-backed peace process, is too close to the West.
The insurgency, which began after Ethiopian forces invaded in late 2006 to kick out the Islamic Courts Union, has claimed the lives of over 17,000 people, mainly civilians.
Ethiopia pulled out in January, but in recent days there have been reports that its troops have once again crossed the Somali border.
Eritrea has been accused of arming the insurgents, and the AU on Friday added its voice to regional calls for the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Eritrea and also implement a no-fly zone and a sea blockade to stop arms coming in.
Eritrea’s UN Ambassador said his country has been falsely accused of supplying arms to Islamist militants intent on toppling Somalia’s new government, a letter released on Friday said.
“I wish to put on record my government’s strong opposition to, and categorical rejection of, the unsubstantiated accusations leveled against my country,” Eritrean Ambassador Araya Desta wrote in a letter to the UN Security Council, dated May 20.
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