SOMALIA: At least 20 civilians killed and scores wounded after fighting between Islamist insurgents and government forces erupts in Mogadishu

Record ID: 572767

  • Title: SOMALIA: At least 20 civilians killed and scores wounded after fighting between Islamist insurgents and government forces erupts in Mogadishu
  • Date: 12th March 2010
  • Summary: WOUNDED CHILDREN AMBULANCE DRIVING OFF
  • Embargoed: 27th March 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Somalia
  • Country: Somalia
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA473H6YVFJAR5J51PDUVSCMKCW
  • Story Text: At least 20 civilians are killed and scores wounded after fighting between Islamist insurgents and the Somali government forces erupted in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
    Fighting between Somali government forces and al Shabaab rebels in the north of Mogadishu on Wednesday (March 10) killed 17 people and wounded 65, hospital officials and rescue services said.
    Residents said al Shabaab also beheaded two employees of a telecommunications company in the capital who had been accused by the al Qaeda-linked insurgents of spying for the government.
    "We are very terrified of what happened. Eight people were killed in a single mortar attack on our neighbourhood and seven others were wounded. The dead include children and we buried some of the dead because they were mutilated by the mortar. We are very terrified of what happened," said an unidentified Mogadishu resident.
    Somali 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.
    The government has said for several months it will launch a major offensive but has yet to carry out the plan.
    Residents said the fighting escalated in the afternoon after African Union tanks joined in but government officials would not comment that AU forces were fighting alongside them.
    Residents said government troops dragged away the corpse of an al Shabaab fighter believed to be that of a foreigner.
    Rebels have stepped up attacks in various parts of the city in recent weeks and government forces have responded with shelling.
    Somalia has had no effective government for 19 years and Western nations and neighbours say the anarchic country is used as a shelter by militants intent on launching attacks in east Africa and further afield.
    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.
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