Bartamaha (Mogadishu):- Twelve civilians died and 43 others were injured in fierce fighting between government forces and insurgents in the Somali capital Mogadishu, officials said on Wednesday.
Fighting began on Tuesday evening after Islamist insurgents Hizbul Islam attacked government positions near the presidential palace.
The two sides exchanged automatic weapon and mortar fire.
“We have transferred 43 wounded people to the hospitals and our staff have reported 12 corpses strewn in the streets,” Ali Muse Sheikh, head of Mogadishu’s ambulance service, told the German Press Agency dpa.
A Hizbul Islam spokesperson said the group had briefly captured the government positions and destroyed at least one armoured vehicle.
Hizbul Islam, along with fellow insurgents al-Shebaab, is fighting to topple the weak Western-backed government in Somalia.
Al-Shebaab, which claims links to the al-Qaeda network, recently carried out its first attack outside Somali soil, targeting the Ugandan capital Kampala with twin blasts that killed 76.
Uganda and Burundi provide troops to the 6 000-strong African Union peacekeeping force propping up the government.
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Source:-News24.
