SOMALIA: Fighting rages in the Somali capital Mogadishu

Record ID: 375503

  • Title: SOMALIA: Fighting rages in the Somali capital Mogadishu
  • Date: 4th June 2009
  • Summary: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (JUNE 3, 2009) (REUTERS) WIDE OF A ROAD JUNCTION WHERE FIGHTING TOOK PLACE VARIOUS OF AL SHABAAB FIGHTERS TAKING POSITION NEAR LAFWEIN PALACE HOTEL (7 SHOTS) VARIOUS OF BATTLEWAGON TAKING WOUNDED AL SHABAAB FIGHTER TO THEIR SECRET HOSPITAL VARIOUS OF BATTLEWAGONS NEAR THE FRONTLINE VARIOUS OF FIGHTING (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) AL SHABAAB COMMANDER, M
  • Embargoed: 19th June 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Somalia
  • Country: Somalia
  • Reuters ID: LVAD9EZZN5LKATSER5JXZN2DTZPH
  • Story Text: Insurgents from the militant al Shabaab movement, whom Western security services say are al Qaeda's proxy in Somalia, are battling government forces for control of the shattered Somali capital in the biggest test to date for President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed.
    Somali government forces drove Islamist insurgents from Mogadishu districts on Wednesday (Jun 03) as heavy fighting continued to rage in the capital.
    Since early May, Mogadishu street battles have killed more than 200 people and 86,000 people have fled, according to witnesses and the U.N. refugee agency.
    Two years of Islamist-led insurgency in Somalia have killed nearly 18,000 people, allowed piracy to flourish offshore, made more than 1 million people internal refugees, sent hundreds of thousands more across borders, and created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
    Islamists briefly re-took an area of Mogadishu on Wednesday in street battles that killed 14 people, wounded dozens more, and added to an exodus of residents from the coastal Somali capital, residents said.
    "With the help of God we are very pleased with our Mujahideen as they have come to new locations in Yaqshid district including Fagax and Lafwein villages," said al Shabaab commander Moalim Hashi.
    The insurgents were reportedly beaten back later in the day.
    Advances by the insurgent group al Shabaab and its allies have been worrying Western powers and neighbours as they fear the Islamist rebels may use Somalia as a base to destabilise the region's two biggest economies, Kenya and Ethiopia.
    Before the latest offensives, the new administration had struggled to stamp its control on more than a few districts of the capital and some central regions. But the insurgents are claiming victory and praising their Mujahideen.
    "This fighting is between our Mujahideen and those who are representing crusaders and they are responsible of what is happening because our country is an Islamic country," Hashi added.
    Lawless Somalia whose 18 years civil strife is seen by the international community as offering a haven for al Qaeda linked militia and a threat to the entire region.
    Aid agencies say the latest round of fighting has killed dozens of civilians and displaced thousands, most of whom are living in squalid conditions in a camp several kilometres outside Mogadishu.
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