Fierce gun battle rocks Mogadishu

Fierce gun battle rocks Mogadishu


Ethiopian troops, Ethiopian withdrawal, insurgents, Islamist groups, Mogadishu, north-east Mogadishu, peace deal, Somali capital, UN Security Council


At least 15 people have been killed after insurgents attacked the Somali capital, Mogadishu, witnesses say.

Heavily armed men were repulsed after they attacked the house of district commissioner Ahmed Da'i just after dawn prayers, resident Ahmed Mumin said.

Mr Da'i confirmed the attack and said the bodies of the attackers "now littered the streets".

The raid comes on the day Ethiopian troops are due to start leaving Somalia, under a recent peace deal.

The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says there is no sign yet that the planned Ethiopian withdrawal from Mogadishu's residential areas has begun.


They [bodies] were unfamiliar faces in the our district, so we think they were the insurgents Dahir Mohamed South Mogadishu resident said.

He says in contrast, they started patrolling in new areas of north-east Mogadishu, leading to clashes with residents and insurgents.

The pull-out is due to finish on 29 December, according to the UN-brokered deal between the government and some moderate Islamist groups.

The UN Security Council on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution imposing sanctions - an assets freeze and travel ban - on anyone threatening peace in Somalia.

"The prime goal of this is to provide a framework to stem the flow of arms into Somalia, which is causing such mayhem there," said John Sawers, the UN ambassador of the UK, which drafted the resolution.

The resolution also mentions anyone disrupting aid deliveries.

Mosque killing

Meanwhile, a gunman has killed one clan elder and wounded three others in an attack inside a mosque near the northern town of Hargeisa.

Hargeisa is the capital of the self-declared republic of Somaliland, which has been spared much of the violence of the rest of the country.

Government officials say there were two hours of fighting between insurgents and security officials in south Mogadishu.

The bodies of at least 15 of those killed were displayed by the authorities.

"They were unfamiliar faces in the our district, so we think they were the insurgents," said resident Dahir Mohamed.

The Islamists have not commented on the incident.

Ethiopia sent troops into Somalia two years to help the transitional government oust Islamists from Mogadishu and surrounding areas.

But President Abdullahi Yusuf last week admitted that Islamists now control most of the southern part of the country.

Story from BBC NEWS:

Published: 2008/11/21 15:48:53 GMT

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