SOMALIA: Heavy fighting kills 15 in Mogadishu

Record ID: 374758

  • Title: SOMALIA: Heavy fighting kills 15 in Mogadishu
  • Date: 24th July 2009
  • Summary: BLOOD STAINS ON FLOOR
  • Embargoed: 8th August 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Somalia
  • Country: Somalia
  • Reuters ID: LVA8D83VQHWAMTPU5T4U1OG4RLUO
  • Story Text: 15 people killed and scores wounded in overnight fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu.
    At least 15 people were killed and 53 wounded in heavy fighting in three districts of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, that started late on Wednesday (July 22) and continued on Thursday (July 23) morning, according to rescue services and witnesses.
    Residents said insurgents attacked positions held by government soldiers and African Union (AU) peacekeepers.
    Some of the shells hit a compound of the private media station HornAfrik where people had sought shelter. Several people were wounded, witnesses said.
    "You can see where the mortars hit. There were many more people who had come to our building looking for shelter from the mortars. A boy who was sitting there was wounded by the shelling," said Husein Abdi Barise, a local resident.
    An estimated 223,000 people have fled Mogadishu since May 7, when fighting erupted between government troops and al Shabaab insurgents.
    There are some 4,300 soldiers from Burundi and Uganda in Somalia's capital defending key sites and helping government forces fight off regular attacks from hardline insurgents with links to al Qaeda.
    Somalia's transitional government is hemmed into a few blocks of the capital city by rebels aiming to topple President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and impose their own strict version of sharia law throughout the country.
    Western countries fear that if the al Shabaab group, and the foreign fighters within its ranks, seize control of Somalia, they could destabilise neighbouring countries and train militants to launch attacks elsewhere.
    While al Shabaab controls much of southern and central Somalia, the presence of AU troops has effectively led to a military stalemate in the capital with neither side able to deliver a knock out blow.
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