Sunday, July 22, 2007
One person died and four were injured when government forces opened fire after their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in the southern Hodan district, the sources said.
"Four wounded people were taken to hospital," said Halima Mohammed, whose brother was injured in the incident.
"We don't know who the dead person is. His body was lying in the street near the site of the blast," she told AFP.
Five others were injured when a hand grenade was hurled at a police convoy carrying prisoners in the southern Huriwa quarter, said Ahmed Halane, a local resident.
"Some of the prisoners managed to escape but others were re-captured," he told AFP.
Another roadside blast went off overnight in northern Mogadishu but missed the police convoy it was targeting, witnesses said.
The relentless violence comes as more than 1 000 clan representatives are gathered in Mogadishu for a reconciliation conference which kicked off on July 15.
Officials from the embattled transitional government have vowed not to be deterred by the violence and held their third session on Saturday.
Critics have argued the meeting was a non-starter since the government's main Islamist foes are boycotting the conference, which they argue should be held outside of Somalia and only after a withdrawal of Ethiopian troops.
Earlier this year, government forces backed by the powerful army of neighbouring Ethiopia toppled the Islamic Courts Union which briefly took control of large swathes of the Horn of Africa country.
Home to about 10 million people, Somalia has been plagued by instability that has defied more than a dozen peace initiatives since the 1991 overthrow of former dictator Siad Barre.
Source: AFP, July 22, 2007