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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Mon Aug 30 2010 - 14:40:54 EDT
Islamist rebels kill four peacekeepers in Somalia
Mon Aug 30, 2010 5:43pm GMT
* Ugandans killed in attack on presidential palace
* President says government needs more international help
* Six civilians killed in separate clash in capital (Updates death toll,
adds quote from Somali president)
By Abdi Sheikh
MOGADISHU, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Four Ugandan peacekeepers were killed in the
Somali capital Mogadishu on Monday when Islamist rebels fired mortars at the
presidential palace, the African Union said.
Six civilians were killed in a separate shelling incident between AU troops
and fighters of the al Shabaab Islmaist group in the north of the city,
ambulance services said.
Uganda and Burundi have deployed more than 6,300 troops in the anarchic Horn
of Africa country to guard the port and airport and shield President Sheikh
Sharif Ahmed from attack.
Last week, al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab vowed to intensify its holy war
against the U.N.-backed government which it denounces as a puppet of the
West.
"We lost four Ugandan soldiers in mortar fire on Villa Somalia this
morning," AU spokesman Barigye Ba-Hoku said, referring to the presidential
palace. Eight Ugandan soldiers were wounded, he said.
Ahmed said his government needed more international assistance against the
militants who launched their first attack on foreign soil in July, killing
79 people in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, in twin bomb attacks.
"It is quite impractical to expect Somalia alone to contain the evil al
Qaeda-al Shabaab alliance, as Somalia is emerging from 20 years of
destruction and a chaotic political environment," Ahmed said in a statement.
Political analysts say the presence of foreign troops in Somalia allows
militants to pose as nationalist champions with a mandate for the kind of
devastating attacks such as last week's. [ID:nLDE67N1M9]
Ahmed said his government needed more international assistance to counter al
Shabaab, similar to that given to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, where al
Qaeda also operates.
"The Somali government has neither similar support nor nearly as much
resources as those countries have. Yet it's facing a similar, if not more
potent, enemy," he said.
Ambulance services in Mogadishu said six people were killed and 19 wounded
in separate shelling between AU troops and al Shabaab.
"We collected most of the casualties from the north of Mogadishu where the
two groups exchanged shells," Ali Musa, the coordinator of ambulance
services, told Reuters.
The AU said it had reinforced security on the strategic Maka Al Mukaaram
road, which runs from the centre of Mogadishu near the presidential palace
to the port.
Its loss would be a severe blow to the government.
"Al Shabaab cannot come to the Maka Al Mukaaram road as long as we are
here," Ba-Hoku told Reuters.
"We chased them back yesterday. They had plans to come to this road but we
did not allow them."
Ambulance services and hospitals say 140 people have been killed in fighting
since al Shabaab insurgents stormed a hotel in Mogadishu last week, killing
31 people, including members of parliament. [ID:nLDE67N0P8] (Additional
reporting by Mohamed Ahmed, writing by Wangui Kanina; Editing by George
Obulutsa and Andrew Dobbie) (For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have
your say on the top issues, visit: <http://af.reuters.com/>
af.reuters.com/)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
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