Fighting Kills At Least 39 in Somali Capital
By VOA News
10 May 2009
Witnesses in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, say fighting between rival Islamist groups has killed at least 39 people and injured dozens more.
The clashes between the pro-government Islamic Courts Union and anti-government groups, including al-Shabab, began late Saturday and continued into Sunday.
Witnesses say 14 people were killed Sunday when a mortar shell struck a mosque in the capital.
Some of the heaviest fighting took place in the northern Yaqshid area and the southern Wardhigley district, where pro-government forces and the Hizbul Islam group clashed over control of a police station.
Thousands of people have fled the two areas to escape the fighting.
Somalia's current government has the backing of moderate Islamists but hardline groups have vowed to topple it and install an Islamic state.
This latest round of fighting in Mogadishu began Thursday. Medical sources in the city say at least 60 wounded people have been taken to hospitals.
Somalia has endured 18 years of chaos and violence since the toppling of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Al-Shabab and its allies control much of the southern and central parts of the country, after a two-year insurgency. The government, led by President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, has no direct control outside parts of the capital.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
