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Civilians killed in Mogadishu fighting




Sunday, December 23, 2007

 

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Mogadishu - Four civilians were killed in overnight fighting between Ethiopia-backed Somali government troops and insurgents in the capital Mogadishu, witnesses said on Sunday.

 

They were killed in clashes in southern and northern Mogadishu after mortar shells crashed into residential areas, they said.

 

"Two civilians died when an artillery shell landed in their house here," said Abdullahi Adan Askar, a resident of northern Yaqshid neighbourhood.

 

Another person died in southern Shirkole district, where the clashes erupted, resident Mohamed Hassan told AFP.

 

The fourth fatality occurred in northern Gupta district, where three people sustained injuries, residents said.

 

Islamist militants have waged an insurgency in Mogadishu since they were defeated by Ethiopian and Somali forces early this year, ending their brief rule in the country's southern and central regions.

 

The deadly insurgency has forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave Mogadishu in recent months, according to the United Nations, prompting warnings of an unprecedented humanitarian disaster.

 

Aid groups have said that insecurity is choking off efforts to deliver humanitarian supplies to those affected.

 

Numerous bids to restore stability to the Horn of Africa nation since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991 have failed because of clan warfare and unrest.

 

Source: AFP, December 23, 2007

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