SOMALIA: Fighting injures hundreds of civilians and forces thousands to flee Mogadishu

Record ID: 374768

  • Title: SOMALIA: Fighting injures hundreds of civilians and forces thousands to flee Mogadishu
  • Date: 13th March 2010
  • Summary: VARIOUS MORE OF CIVILIANS ON FOOT CARRYING BELONGINGS (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 28th March 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Somalia
  • Country: Somalia
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA177F8AWGVUUS5TZ3C4324RFG2
  • Story Text: For the third day running, battles rage between Somali insurgents and government forces. Doctors are treating hundreds civilians injured in the fighting while thousands flee the chaotic capital Mogadishu.
    Somalia's rebel group al Shabaab attacked government positions near the president's palace in the capital Mogadishu, prompting return fire and the deaths of four people, hospital staff and residents said on Friday (March 12).
    The fighting started in the Wardhigley district in the early hours. Friday was the third day of battles between the insurgents and government troops backed by African Union troops.
    More than 50 people were killed in the first three days of fighting as rebels sought to destabilise the government ahead of a long-awaited offensive aimed at dislodging the insurgents from Mogadishu.
    Doctors at Medina hospital were overwhelmed with the number of civilians they were attending to as ambulances and buses brought more injured civilians to be treated.
    The government has urged residents to vacate the areas where fighting is taking place and move to safer areas outside the capital as it planned to take on the rebels again, but said it had not yet started a long-awaited offensive to dislodge the insurgents from Mogadishu once and for all.
    Ibrahim Mohamed was one of the residents who fled Mogadishu with his family.
    "You see, mortars are still hitting on our houses so we decided to flee Mogadishu to safer areas of Elasha because of the fighting and shelling that is directed to our homes."
    Somalia has had no effective central government for 19 years and Western nations and neighbouring countries say the country provides sanctuary for militants intent on launching attacks in east Africa and beyond.
    Insurgents have fought the government since the start of 2007 and the Western-backed administration has been hemmed into a few blocks of the capital since a rebel offensive last May.
    Outside the capital, much of southern and central Somalia is controlled by al Shabaab -- an al Qaeda-linked militia that wants to impose its own harsh version of Sharia law in the country -- and another insurgent group, Hizbul Islam. Somali-based pirates have extracted huge ransoms by hijacking international shipping.
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