- Title: SOMALIA: Heavy fighting in Mogadishu
- Date: 18th June 2009
- Summary: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (JUNE 17, 2009) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF HODAN DISTRICT WITH THE SOUND OF GUNSHOTS
- Embargoed: 3rd July 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Somalia
- Country: Somalia
- Reuters ID: LVAEH8V5PY4LJ73NS0XXQPIUAS4L
- Story Text: Eight civilians and one police commander killed in Mogadishu as Islamist insurgents continue to battle government forces.
Some nine people were killed in heavy fighting between government soldiers and Islamist rebels that broke out after government forces launched a counter-attack on insurgents on Wednesday (June 17).
Al Shabaab rebels attacked a government-held checkpoint outside Mogadishu on Tuesday (June 16), with six fighters said to be have been killed in the battle.
In Wednesday's fighting, a senior police official was killed as he led government troops in the offensive. A number of civilians were also killed when a mortar hit a house where residents were hiding from the fighting.
"They were here hiding from the mortars when one mortar hit the house ," said Omar Hassan, a resident of Mogadishu.
A two-year insurgency led by the Islamist group that western security services say is al Qaeda's proxy in Somalia has killed 18,000 civilians, made one million people homeless, drawn in foreign jihadists, and enabled piracy to flourish offshore.
In the latest cycle of 18 years of violence, al Shabaab and another militant group, Hizbul Islam, are fighting the administration of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and an allied moderate Islamist group Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca.
The insurgents control large swathes of south Somalia and parts of the capital, with some districts changing hands regularly in heavy fighting during recent weeks. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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