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SOMALIA: FIGHTING IN THE CAPITAL KILLS CIVILIANS AFTER RAMADAN September 23, 2009
At least 10 people are believed to have been killed and dozens more wounded on Tuesday night in the latest waves of fighting in the Somalia capital Mogadishu between the government soldiers backed by the African Union peacekeepers and militias of the radical rebel groups.
This was the worst battle that killed the highest number of civilians after the Ramadan month as both rival sides are preparing for major confrontation.
The latest fighting came after the Islamist hardliners attacked bases of the African Union troops and government alongside the strategic road of Maka Al-Mukarama near the presidential palace where they exchanged heavy weaponry.
Witnesses told Somalinet the clash followed by artillery shelling by the African troops into main Bakara market causing more civilian casualty.
“I have seen the bodies of seven people when fired missile hit their house. I really shocked and managed to hide myself to a safe place,” Hussein Ali said.
Three other civilians have been killed in the latest shelling as some of the wounded people were critical.
Another witness said the missiles from the side of the African Union troops were raining on Bakara market and its surrounding areas.
The warring sides are blaming each other for the casualty of the last night’s fighting. Troops from the African Union are often accused of targeting the civilians whenever they are attacked by the rebel insurgents.
The Somalia government and the peacekeeping forces of the African Union believe that Bakara market is the main source of the rebel groups that they always organize their attacks.