Mogadishu Fighting Kills at Least 13
By VOA News
24 February 2009
Reports from Somalia's capital say at least 13 people are dead after insurgents attacked government and African Union forces, Tuesday.
Witnesses and health officials say the sides exchanged heavy automatic weapons and artillery fire. They say at least three people, including a mother and a baby, were killed when a mortar shell struck a house.
Doctors say at least 45 people wounded in the fighting have been brought to the city's main hospital.
Mogadishu remains torn by violence despite a recent peace deal between the government and moderate Islamists. The hard-line group al-Shabab, which rejected the deal, claimed responsibility for an attack Sunday that killed 11 AU peacekeepers from Burundi.
Despite the attack, the AU says it remains intent on helping keep the peace in Somalia.
New Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed urged militants not to attack the peacekeepers.
The new president's government is trying to win support at home and abroad in the face of a strong insurgency.
Al-Shabab controls large areas of southern Somalia, while the government controls only parts of Mogadishu.
Al-Shabab says it wants to end corruption and insecurity, and impose Islamic law.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
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