Thursday, July 23, 2009
An Islamist offensive sparked by the return of an exiled insurgent leader in April has killed hundreds of Somalis. The fragile U.N.-backed government holds only a few blocks of the capital and along with an undermanned, underresourced peacekeeping force it has struggled to defend government buildings, the port and airport. The U.S. government sent 40 tons of weapons last month.
Many civilians spent Wednesday night sheltering behind pockmarked concrete walls and inside crumbling houses as mortar and tank shells hit residential neighborhoods in the south of the city.
"Hundreds of Islamist fighters wearing red and black spotted headscarves and ammunition belts draped over their shoulders came into our village on Wednesday evening," said witness Abwali Haji Nor. "They started attacking nearby government and African Union bases with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades."
Liban Mohamed Nageye said his neighbor and her five-year-old son had been dismembered by a direct hit from a mortar shell as they sought shelter. The woman and her four children had fled fighting in the north of the city a month earlier; the other three children survived.
Abdulahi Salad, a driver with the African Life Line and Nationlink Ambulance Service said the service collected dozens of wounded people, but four civilians died on their way to hospital.
Local resident Shamso Gedi said she had counted four dead civilians and three dead insurgents.
Army spokesman Farhan Asanyo said three soldiers were also killed.
The latest fighting with the U.N.-backed government have been driven by two allied Islamist insurgent groups — al-Shabab and the Islamic Party.
The U.S. State Department says al-Shabab has links with al-Qaida, which the group denies. But experts say hundreds of foreign jihadi fighters are helping the Islamist militias.
Source: AP, July 23, 2009