(SomaliNet) At least 16 people have been killed and scores were wounded in separate gun battles which erupted in the Somalia capital Mogadishu on Wednesday between interim government forces along with Ethiopian soldiers, and masked and heavily armed insurgent groups.
It was the bloodiest fighting in the capital since the arrival of the Ethiopian backed interim government in December 2006.
The fighting started around former defense ministry compound in south of the capital where based by Ethiopian forces at about 6:09 am local time this morning and then spread into other new areas.
The heaviest clashes happened around the ministry of defense where reports say that government lost 7 soldiers while the body of Ethiopian soldier was dragged on the streets by angry mobs. SomaliNet decided not to print the gruesome images of dead people.
Bodies of two government soldiers were also set on fire by infuriated residents.
Most of the dead people were civilians who were killed by the exchanged gun fire and artilleries.
In north of Mogadishu, clashes also erupted between government troops and supporters of the ousted Islamists causing human casualties but there is no exact number of people killed and wounded there.
Insurgents groups claimed that they have captured seven government soldiers, some wounded in the war some of them were wounded.
Some reports say that insurgents surrounded the former defense ministry compound where the Ethiopian soldier dug in and firing artillery shells.
The militants who have the backing of the residents seized key streets in the capital like Wadnaha road which passes behind the main Bakara market in Mogadishu.
It is for the first time that armed local militia men are seen in some streets of southern the capital since the ouster of the Islamic Courts Union from Mogadishu, Somalia capital late December 2006.
