Saturday, November 10, 2007
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| A Somali boy leads the way as he helps carry his older brother's body in a wheelcart after he was reportedly killed by Ethiopian troops - (AFP/Mustafa Abdi)
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Residents picking through destroyed houses found nine bodies near a mosque and another six in the nearby Black Sea district of southern Mogadishu, where Ethiopian forces clashed with Islamist insurgents this week.
The body of an Ethiopian soldier was also found in Black Sea.
"It was a very gruesome scene. They indiscriminately shot innocent civilians who were fleeing the fighting," sad Ali Muse Mohamed, a local elder, referring to Ethiopian soldiers.
Another resident Osman Keysaney said the six civilians whose bodies were found in the Black Sea district had gunshot wounds in the head.
Heavy fighting between Ethiopian forces and militants erupted on Thursday, resulting in the death of several people, including Ethiopian soldiers.
The body of an Ethiopian soldier was dragged on the streets by civilians on Thursday, sparking reprisal attacks the following day.
On Friday, the Ethiopian troops shelled suspected Islamist hideouts in Mogadishu’s southern districts in a bid to flush out pockets of insurgents who have carried out months-long attacks against them.
The Ethiopian army came to the rescue of the embattled Somali government last year to help it oust an Islamist militia that briefly controlled large parts of the country and sought to impose Islamic law.
The Islamic Courts Union (ICU) was defeated earlier this year, but its remnants and allied tribes have since waged a guerrilla war targeting government officials, Ethiopian troops and African Union peacekeepers.
Source: AFP