Bartamaha (Mogadishu):- At least 11 people including civilians died on Wednesday in fighting between African Union troops backing the Somali government and Islamist rebels, officials and witnesses said.
The AU forces attacked the hardline Shebab rebels in the north of Mogadishu while other clashes erupted in the south of the war-ravaged Somali capital.
“The violent elements serving Al Qaeda tried to advance to the government controlled areas yesterday (Tuesday) but they were moved back this afternoon and there are many of their dead fighters lying around the positions they fled,” government security official Mohamed Adan said.
Adan said three of their soldiers were killed and seven wounded.
Ali Muse, the head of Mogadishu’s ambulance service, said they had picked up bodies of some eight civilians killed by heavy artillery used by both sides.
“We have collected (the bodies of) around eight civilians who were killed in the fighting this afternoon and 36 others were injured,” Muse said.
Witnesses in Mogadishu’s southern Hodan district said some of the injured were still trapped inside their houses amid the clashes.
Mogadishu has been gripped by heavy fighting in recent weeks as the Shebab intensified a drive to oust the Western-backed Somali government.
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Source:-AFP.
