By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN
Associated Press Writer
Residents heard artillery and gunfire south and east of Baidoa city, where the government is headquartered. On Wednesday, the two sides exchanged mortar and artillery fire, resulting in heavy casualties, government and Islamic officials said.
"We are hearing the echoes of the mortar fires, anti-aircraft missiles and rocket-propelled grenades," said Ahmed Siyad Abdulle, a businessmen in Bur Haqaba, which is controlled by the Islamic movement.
EU envoy Louis Michel said late Wednesday that such skirmishes were likely to continue for now, but he said both sides had broadly agreed to ease tensions.
Somalia's deputy Defense Minister Salad Ali Jelle told reporters that 71 Islamic fighters had been killed and 221 injured in Wednesday's fighting. Two of those killed were foreigners, he said.
Three government troops were killed and seven injured, Jelle said.
In Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia which is controlled by the Islamic group, Muslim leaders said they killed 70 government soldiers, the majority of them Ethiopian. One was an Ethiopian colonel, senior Islamic leader Sheik Mohamud Ibrahim Suley said. The Islamic group said they suffered seven deaths with 22 injured. Neither claim could be independently verified.
Michel said peace talks would be in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital where several rounds have been held with little progress. No date was given for the resumption of the talks.
Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991. The current government, supported by troops from neighboring Ethiopia, holds only a small area around Baidoa.
The Islamic militias control Mogadishu and most of southern Somalia.
Source: AP, Dec 21, 2006