SOMALIA: Mogadishu fighting leaves six dead

Record ID: 375141

  • Title: SOMALIA: Mogadishu fighting leaves six dead
  • Date: 13th May 2010
  • Summary: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (MAY 12, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS TRANSITIONAL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (TFG) FORCES FIRING AT ISLAMIST INSURGENTS VARIOUS OF CROWD LOOKING AT AFTERMATH OF MORTAR ATTACK
  • Embargoed: 28th May 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Somalia
  • Country: Somalia
  • Reuters ID: LVAEJ99W5NEH65FE8WHLX8TEPJ8A
  • Story Text: Fighting between Islamist insurgents and the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) troops on Wednesday (May 12) killed at least six people and wounded 31 civilians in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu.
    Rebels from the al Shabaab group exchanged gun fire and artillery shelling with TFG troops in a wave of fighting that has eclipsed the East African nation.
    The Co-ordinator of Ambulance Services in Mogadishu, Ali Musa, said medics had seen 31 wounded civilians and six bodies.
    Violence in drought-ravaged Somalia has killed at least 19,000 civilians since the start of 2007 and driven a further 1.5 million people from their homes, helping to trigger one of the world's most acute humanitarian emergencies.
    Somalia has had no effective government for 19 years and Western security agencies say the country has become a safe haven for Islamist militants, including foreign jihadists, who are using it to plot attacks across the region and beyond.
    The chaos onshore has allowed pirate gangs to flourish and make millions of dollars from hijacking ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
    Uganda and Burundi both have some 2,500 peacekeepers in Mogadishu with the AMISOM force that is protecting sites and Somalia's fragile Western-backed government.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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