Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) soldiers in Mogadishu (file photo: PressTV)
Fierce infighting erupted in the strategic KM 4 Junction near Mogadishu International Airport on Monday after Somali government forces riding a pick-up truck attempted to disarm a unit of Somali troops. Four women were also wounded during the bloody battle, a Press TV correspondent in Mogadishu reported.
The latter group had fired gunshots into the air, smashed windows and looted shops in the area, before it was disarmed.
Capt. Abdi Mohamed, a Somali military official, told Press TV that the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) does not accept that its troops launch attacks against unarmed civilians.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
The Somali government has struggled for years to restore security but efforts have not yet yielded results in the nation.
Nearly a million people have died following years of fighting between rival warlords and also due to the country's inability to deal with famine and disease.
There are more than 1.4 million internally displaced persons (IDP) in Somalia. More than 300,000 IDPs have been sheltered in Mogadishu alone.
Most of the displaced live in squalid conditions at makeshift camps in southern and central Somalia, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
MP/MB/HRF
Source: PressTV