From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sat Aug 22 2009 - 08:14:43 EDT
24 killed in Mogadishu heavy fighting
Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:47:25 GMT
At least 24 people have been killed and dozens injured in heavy fighting
between Somali militants and African Union peacekeeping forces in the
capital Mogadishu.
Residents said heavily armed militants carried out pre-dawn attacks on
African Union peacekeeping forces (AU) and Somali troop bases in central
Mogadishu, leading to heavy mortar shelling and gunfire that continued
throughout Friday, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Mogadishu residents stayed in their homes as mortars slammed into the
seaside capital and splintered the sprawling Bakara Market, where traders
were setting up their goods for the day.
Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, a Spokesman for the Somali insurgent group
al-Shabaab, said his group carried out the attacks as revenge for a Thursday
offensive on their strongholds.
"It's them (government side) who started the fighting. They attacked us on
our bases and we attacked them on their bases. It's a fair play," he told
reporters in Mogadishu.
Dunia Ali Mohamed, an official of Mogadishu's Medina Hospital reported that
the hospital received more than 20 wounded people on Friday with more coming
in.
The fighting comes a day after nearly 60 people were killed in different
parts of the war-torn nation.
Forces loyal to the country's fragile UN-backed transition government have
stepped up efforts to seize control of the rebel-held districts in the
capital and other regions in the Horn of Africa nation.
FTP/SME/MMA
UN: Yemen clashes displace100,000 people
Sat, 22 Aug 2009 05:52:35 GMT
An UN agency says a recent surge in fighting between the Yemeni government
and fighters has forced more than 100,000 people, many of them children, to
leave their homes.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) voices "serious concern" over
the impact of the escalating violence on women and children in the
northwestern Saada province.
"It is estimated that over 100,000 persons have been displaced by the latest
round of fighting, (and) many of them are children," Reuters quoted Aboudou
Karimou Adjibade, UNICEF representative in Yemen, as saying.
The warning comes as government forces have killed 100 anti-government
Houthi fighters and arrested 300 others in the province in the past few
days.
The Houthis belong to the Zaydi branch of Shia Islam.
Marie Okabe, a UNICEF spokesman, also announced that the agency is trying to
supply the refugees with water filters, jerry cans and hygiene kits, as well
as 300,000 water purification tablets.
Alongside with UNICEF, the World Food Program (WFP) also decided to boost
its food aide to 150,000 Yemenis compared with 95,000 who had received help
last month.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that some 35,000
people displaced in just past two weeks as a result of the conflict in
Yemen.
Fighting between Yemeni troops backed by fighter aircraft and Shia fighters
has killed dozens, mostly fighters, since the government launched a wide
offensive against Shia tribes earlier in the month.
Yemen's government officials accuse opposition groups of trying to reinstall
a religious reign, toppled by a 1962 military coup in northern Yemen.
In addition, government officials on August 13 announced 6 conditions for
halting their offensive.
These included the opposition's withdrawal from all districts of Sa'ada and
mountainous sites and giving up the military hardware they had seized from
the army.
DB/DT
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