Nine Somalis killed as Islamists launch attack

Mogadishu fighting follows vows by Islamist movement to intensify attacks over the month of Ramadan.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
somalia islamists 248.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
somalia islamists 248.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
Heavy fighting between Ethiopian troops and Islamist-led insurgents killed at least nine Somalis in the capital of Mogadishu on Wednesday, witnesses said. The fighting followed vows by the strengthening Islamist movement to intensify attacks over the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. Residents said nearly 100 heavily armed insurgents shouting "God is great" launched an attack on a base for Ethiopian and Somali government troops in the northeastern Mogadishu neighborhood of Huriwaa, prompting fierce gun battles and an exchange of mortar rounds. Somali officials routinely target the area, accusing residents of supporting insurgents. Resident Abdiwali Mohamud said he saw four civilians killed in the crossfire during the two-hour battle, which began shortly after midday. Another resident, Abdinur Sheikh, said he saw two government soldiers and three insurgents lying dead in the middle of the road. Nine people were also reported wounded. Kiosk owner Salado Mahad said Ethiopian troops fired into a butcher's shop in Huriwaa Market, wounding five men and two women. In the northern Yaqshid neighborhood, two mortars slammed into residents' homes. "The first one injured no one, but the second one wounded a mother and her 15 year-old son," said resident Mohamed Abdulle Warsame. Also on Wednesday, the Islamic militia Al-Shabab posted a statement on an Islamic web site, Almujaahid, claiming responsibility for Tuesday's fatal shooting of Somali Member of Parliament Mohamed Osman Maye in Baidoa, where the Somali parliament sits. Analysts said the Islamist movement appears to be regaining its strength after Ethiopian troops supporting the shaky transitional government chased them from power in December 2006. The Islamists, who had taken control of the capital and much of the south, launched an Iraq-style insurgency. Earlier this year, they launched a series of hit-and-run raids on dozens of Somali towns. Last month they captured Kismayo, Somalia's third city, the largest they have held since 2007. Humanitarian agency Doctors Without Borders announced Wednesday the bodies of 29 refugees had washed up on Yemen's shores as increasing numbers of people flee the violence in Somalia. The UN-backed Somali government has been riven by infighting and has failed to deliver security or services to its impoverished people. Somalia has been at war since clan-based militias ousted a socialist dictator in 1991, then fought each other for power. The conflict is complicated by clan loyalties, criminal gangs and the involvement of archenemies Eritrea and Ethiopia, who back opposite sides in the fighting.