Saturday, April 14, 2007
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Gunmen ambushed Somali troops who were patrolling a main intersection in the battle-scarred capital Saturday, fatally shooting two soldiers in the back, witnesses said.
It was not clear whether the gunmen were part of a growing Islamic insurgency here. Mogadishu is one of the world's most violent and gun-infested cities.
"The two soldiers were shot in the back," said Andbdi Ahmed Gaal, who witnessed the shooting. "They died on the spot with their guns lying beside them."
Late Friday, a mortar fired by Ethiopian-backed government troops landed on a camp for people whose homes have been destroyed in the fighting, witnesses said. Hundreds of makeshift homes built of sticks and tarps burned to the ground.
Mogadishu has seen sporadic violence in recent days, ending a lull in fighting between insurgents and Ethiopian-backed government troops. Four days of bloodshed that started in late March killed hundreds of people — and possibly more than 1,000 — in the worst fighting in 15 years.
Those battles started when Ethiopian troops used tanks and attack helicopters in an offensive to crush insurgents.
The insurgents are linked to the Council of Islamic Courts, which was driven from power in December by Somali and Ethiopian soldiers, accompanied by U.S. special forces. The U.S. has accused the courts of having ties to al-Qaida.
The militants reject any secular government, and have sworn to fight until Somalia becomes an Islamic emirate.
The U.N. refugee agency says more than 200,000 people have fled Mogadishu since the beginning of February. The agency had earlier said 124,000 people fled — highlighting the difficulty of getting accurate figures from a country with no effective central government or institutions.
Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned against each other. A national government was established in 2004, but has failed to assert any real control.
Source: AP, April 14, 2007