By Mustafa Haji Abdinur
Friday, May 22, 2009
Troops attacked the rebels in three positions in southern Mogadishu which they wrested from the government in recent heavy clashes that have killed more than 100 people.
Military spokesman Farhan Mahdi Mohamed vowed they would fight until the insurgents are dislodged from the capital, but witnesses said they saw the troops beating a retreat as their rivals advanced.
Eight passengers were killed when a mortar shell struck a bus in southern Mogadishu.
"The bus was passing in front of my gate when the disaster occurred. There was blood and human body parts all around. It was a horrible scene," said Bashir Abdurahman.
Another six people, among them a local journalist and three government troops, were killed in the renewed battles, witnesses and officials said.
Officials at Mogadishu's Medina hospital said 53 people had been taken for treatment.
The fighting had fizzled out into sporadic gunfire by Friday afternoon, an AFP correspondent reported.
The National Union of Somali Journalists condemned the death of the Radio Shabelle journalist who was killed in the crossfire.
He "was on his way (to the station) when bullets hit him on the chest. His body was lying on the road for about 45 minutes as the militias were shooting at anyone who wanted to take his body," the union said in a statement.
Earlier, the army spokesman said one soldier was wounded and claimed they had regained control of the three areas of the capital -- Tarbunka, Bakara and Howlwadag -- held by the insurgents.
"This is a large military offensive against violent people," he said. "The government will sweep them out of the capital and the fighting will continue until that happens."
But a spokesman for the rebels, who call themselves the Shebab or Party of Youth, denied the claim.
"The enemies of Allah attacked our positions this morning and our fighters are defending themselves. They have not not taken any positions from us," said Sheikh Ali Mohamoud Rage.
Ten days of fierce clashes between the two sides have killed more than 100 people and displaced 46,000 others.
The Shebab and Hezb al-Islamiya fighters are the main insurgents trying to topple the transitional government of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed elected in January under a UN-sponsored reconciliation deal.
The rebels launched attacks against the government on May 7 and said they had received the support of foreign fighters to wage some of the fiercest clashes Mogadishu has suffered in months.
An East African regional bloc this week called for UN sanctions on Eritrea, blaming it for propping up the insurgents in their bid to topple the government.
The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) also asked the UN to impose an aerial and maritime blockade to starve the rebels of weapons supplies.
The Horn of Africa nation has not had a central government since the ouster of president Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 which set off a bloody cycle of clashes between rival factions.
Source: AFP, May 22, 2009