.MOGADISHU (AFP) - Gunmen attacked Ethiopian army positions in the Somali capital Wednesday, sparking intense clashes in several areas and raising fears of fresh anarchy, witnesses said.
Ethiopian forces responded with heavy machine-gun, tank and anti-aircraft fire on the insurgents in the south and centre of the capital Mogadishu, an AFP correspondent reported.
At least one civilian was killed in the crossfire, according to a witness.
The man "was killed in front of Hotel Bin Ali as he was trying to cross the road," said Abdiweli Nur, a resident of the Tawfik area where much of the fighting took place as darkness fell.
"Another elderly man was wounded in the same area," he added.
"We have not been expecting fighting to resume, but tonight, we were shocked by the fighting," said Mohamed Hassan, a resident of central Mogadishu.
It was not immediately possible to establish if there were any casualties, as many residents were afraid to risk going into the street in search of casualties.
"I cannot tell of any casualty at the moment, but stray bullets and mortar shells have hit houses," Hassan added.
The fighting came hours after the much-delayed, United Nations-backed peace conference, due to start in the capital on Thursday, was postponed for a month due to logistical problems.
Ethiopian-backed Somali forces in April quelled an Islamist-led insurgency in Mogadishu after weeks of clashes that claimed hundreds of lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
But since then, insecurity has sharply escalated in Mogadishu, with Islamists and clan militia targeting government officials, Ethiopian troops and AU peacekeepers.
Somalia has been without an effective government since the 1991 ousting of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, which sparked a bloody power struggle that has defied repeated attempts to restore stability.
Source: AFP, June 13, 2007
