Update: 24 dead in Somalia violence, witnesses say

MOGADISHU, Somalia — At least 24 people were killed in fighting that pitted Islamist insurgents against government forces and African Union peacekeepers in Somalia’s capital Friday, witnesses and medical staff said. Residents were hiding in their homes as mortars slammed into the city.

The bloodshed came one day after fighting killed at least 40 people in central Somalia as the warring sides tried to gain ground in strategic towns.

Somalia has been ravaged by violence and anarchy since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, then turned on each other. The al-Shabab insurgent group, which has foreign fighters in its ranks, operates openly in the capital and seeks to overthrow the government and impose a strict form of Islam in Somalia.

The rebels launched a pre-dawn attack Friday on an African Union base, prompting a relentless firefight. Mortars slammed into a market as traders were setting up their goods for the day, killing six people. Ali Muse, the coordinator of Mogadishu’s ambulance service, said another 18 bodies had been transported Friday.

“Hundreds of well-armed insurgents came to our district with minibuses and pick-up trucks and immediately they started firing towards the government troops and an African Union base,” Mogadishu resident Abdi Haji Ahmed told The Associated Press by telephone. “We have been ducking under our concrete balcony for hours.”

The government and African Union had no immediate comment.

But al-Shabab spokesman Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage said his forces retaliated against the African Union troops for rolling into rebel-controlled areas early Friday.

“They provoked us by coming into our areas, so we have a right to attack them in their bases,” Rage said.

Government troops and African Union peacekeepers hold only a few blocks of Mogadishu, but they still control key government buildings as well as the port and airport.

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MOGADISHU, Somalia — Fighting between government soldiers and Islamic insurgents killed at least 15 people in central Somalia on Thursday as the warring sides tried to gain ground in strategic towns.

Witnesses also reported seeing troops from neighboring Ethiopia roll into the country — a development that would enrage insurgents who saw Ethiopia as an occupying force after it helped drive out Islamists in 2006.

The fighting started Thursday in Bula Burte, about 130 miles (210 kilometers) north of the capital, Mogadishu, when government soldiers moved into the town controlled by the insurgent group al-Shabab. The United States says the group has ties to al-Qaida, which al-Shabab denies.

Local resident Osman Ganey said he saw 15 corpses and that the fighting was continuing.

“We closed all our shops and most of the residents are fleeing from the town,” a local businessman, Mohamed Ibrahim, told The Associated Press by telephone.

Also Thursday, al-Shabab fighters moved into Belet Weyne, near the border with Ethiopia, forcing government soldiers to retreat to the far side of town. The insurgents moved in after witnesses spotted Ethiopian troops there, identifying them by their uniforms and their trucks with Ethiopian license plates.

Ali Mohamed Gedi, a spokesman for the regional government, denied Ethiopians were in the country.

“There was no big fighting but the government soldiers have left the western part of Belet Weyne and the al-Shabab men are in control,” said local resident Daud Haji Ibar.

Controlling Belet Weyne is vital from a military standpoint because of the town’s proximity to Ethiopia, which has sent troops here in the past to stop Islamists from taking power. It also serves as a link between southern Somalia and the agriculturally rich central region.

Somalia has been ravaged by violence and anarchy since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, then turned on each other. Al-Shabab, which has foreign fighters in its ranks, operates openly in the capital and seeks to overthrow the government and impose a strict form of Islam in Somalia.

Source: AP