Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The attack occured in southern Mogadishu's former government military academy where peacekeepers from Burundi are based.
Resident Abdiasis Omar said Shebab fighters attacked Jale Siad military academy Tuesday night.
"There was heavy exchange of fire involving machine-guns, mortars and anti-aircraft weapons. Two civilians, one of them a child, died in my neighborhood," he said.
Several other witnesses confirmed the fatalities.
"A woman lost her son after he was hit in the head by a stray bullet. She was trying to escape from the area but unfortunately the child strapped on her back was killed," said Muktar Saney Ali, another witness.
Major Bahoku Barigye, spokesman for the AU peacekeepers, confirmed the clashes but said the Shebab attack was not directly targeted at the peacekeeping forces, but an adjacent base housing pro-government militants.
"They attacked ex-control where local militants are stationed, it is very close to our base, but it was not directly aimed at our forces," he told AFP. Staff at Deyniile hospital said they were treating five civilians wounded in the clashes.
Fierce clashes between radical Islamist insurgents and government troops that erupted earlier this month have left well over 100 people dead and more than 43,000 displaced according to the UN refugee agency.
Insurgents now control much of southern and central Somalia, with forces loyal to the internationally recognised government pushed back to a few remaining pockets in Mogadishu and close to the Ethiopian border.
The rebel onslaught has been led by the Shebab, an extremist faction accused of links to Al-Qaeda, and Hezb al-Islam, a more political radical group loyal to top opposition leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys.
Source: AFP, May 20, 2009