From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Fri May 22 2009 - 05:56:24 EDT
Fighting rocks Somali capital, at least 15 killed
Fri May 22, 2009 9:30am GMT
* Government forces try to dislodge insurgents
* At least 85 wounded, local journalist among dead
(Updates death toll, wounded)
By Abdi Sheikh and Abdi Guled
MOGADISHU, May 22 (Reuters) - Somali government forces attacked rebel
strongholds in Mogadishu on Friday, triggering battles across the capital
that killed at least 15 people.
Neighbouring states and Western security forces fear Somalia, which has been
mired in civil war for 18 years, could become a haven for militants linked
to al Qaeda.
Witnesses said four insurgents from the hardline Islamist al Shabaab group
died and a journalist from local independent Shabelle Radio was also killed.
Residents cowered in their homes as both sides swapped heavy weapons fire.
"I saw masked men running away carrying the bodies of four of their
friends," Halima Osman, a mother-of-three who lives in the city's sprawling
Bakara Market, told Reuters.
"We were surprised to see men in government uniforms fighting in Bakara.
They have recaptured four police stations between here and the palace, and
they are advancing further."
The government says there is little hope of negotiating with the Shabaab
gunmen trying to topple it. The administration says the rebels have no
political agenda and have hundreds of foreign extremists in their ranks.
Sources at two Mogadishu hospitals said they received 85 wounded civilians
on Friday, and that four of them later died. Residents in the city's Hodon
district said the bodies of six dead insurgents were lying at a police
station there.
The heaviest fighting for months has killed scores of civilians and uprooted
tens of thousands in the last two weeks.
REBEL STRONGHOLD SURROUNDED
Residents said Friday's pre-dawn assaults looked to be a concerted effort by
pro-government forces to seize back control of strategic sites in the
capital held by the rebels.
"They have surrounded Bakara Market, al Shabaab's biggest stronghold in the
city. We hope for the sake of peace that the government forces do not
retreat later," one local man said.
Hassan Mahdi, a spokesman for Hizbul Islam, another Islamist guerrilla group
battling the government, told Reuters by telephone that troops had struck at
their positions too.
"Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam are counter-attacking ... we have pushed them
back in some places. There are casualties, but I can't say how many. We are
in the middle of fighting," Mahdi said as heavy gunfire thundered in the
background.
Local journalist Abdirizak Warsame was killed in the crossfire as he walked
to work at his radio station.
"A stray bullet hit him in the head and he died on the spot," Shabelle Radio
boss Mukhtar Mohamed Hirabe told Reuters.
Fighting has killed at least 17,700 civilians and driven more than 1 million
from their homes since the start of 2007. About 3 million Somalis survive on
emergency food aid.
The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR says 46,000 people have fled clashes
in Mogadishu in the past two weeks.
Islamist rebels including Shabaab -- which Washington accuses of having
close links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda -- control much of the south and
centre of the country.
While they have brought relative security to some areas, the militants'
strict interpretation of sharia law has angered some Somalis who are
traditionally more moderate Muslims. (Additional reporting by Ibrahim
Mohamed; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by David Clarke and Mark
Trevelyan)
C Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----