Last Updated: Mar 29, 2007 - 3:39:06 PM Somalia...

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2007 - 3:39:06 PM

Somalia
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Fears of continued bloodshed in Somalia’s disorderly capital
29 Mar 29, 2007 - 3:36:38 PM





Ethiopian military truck burning
MOGADISHU, Somalia Mar 29 (Garowe Online) - Residents in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, were apprehensive Thursday night as the sound of artillery shells slamming into buildings continued well into the night.

At least 30 people died and 90 others were wounded in Thursday’s gun battles between Ethiopian troops backing Somalia’s fragile government and insurgents who have vowed to kill all foreign troops unless they withdraw from Somali soil.

Confidential sources in Mogadishu told Garowe Online that clan militias were actively supporting insurgents’ efforts to defend their strongholds from Ethiopian incursion.

Insurgents were pushed out of their main strongholds during the early phase of the battles, witnesses said.

However, hundreds of extra fighters and battlewagons joined the fight later and residents said that insurgents had returned to most of their strongholds as nighttime approached.

The sound of explosions was heard throughout the night as shells slammed into certain neighborhoods believed to be strongholds of the rising insurgency.

Independent sources said the shells were being launched from the direction of Villa Somalia, the heavily guarded compound that houses President Abdullahi Yusuf.

“The shelling started around 9pm,” said a local who lives in the vicinity of Villa Somalia.

Ethiopian troops spearheaded Thursday’s campaign to enter and disarm some of Mogadishu’s roughest neighborhoods. At least 7 Ethiopian soldiers were confirmed dead after their military transport vehicle was hit by an insurgent rocket.

Our correspondent witnessed two of the dead Ethiopian soldiers’ bodies being dragged by angry crowds.

Last week, Somali troops led the disarmament campaign and met armed resistance, including angry mobs who dragged the bodies of dead soldiers.

Elders belonging to Mogadishu’s dominant Hawiye clan said Ethiopian troops violated a tentative ceasefire deal reached last Friday, even though Ethiopian officials declined to confirm whether or not there actually was an agreement.

The transitional government’s interior minister, Mohamed “Gamodheere” Mohamud, dismissed reports of a ceasefire but vowing that government forces “will continue operations.”

Garowe Online News