Shabelle Media Network (Mogadishu)
Aweys Osman Yusuf
12 January 2007
Mogadishu — Gunmen in the Somali capital Mogadishu attacked a hotel dubbed Ambassador where number of government officials was lodging. The attack happened on Thursday evening as the gunmen riding in a car threw grenades at the hotel.
The government forces guarding the hotel were quick to respond brush firing the attackers. The exchange of fire lasted at least 15 minutes, witnesses reported. One government soldier was wounded in the skirmishes.
Government soldiers launched weapons search operations on 10 January around KM4 Street in the center of the capital city after their military compound in the area was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades several times in the past. They seized more AK 47 rifles and explosives from the houses around KM4 St.
Residents near the hotel, which also lies near KM4 Street, have shown great concerns over the repeated assaults against government posts in the area. They requested the government to put more emphasis on securing the neighborhood.
Increase of armed robbery
Residents in Mogadishu suffer from insecurity at nights. Abdi Mohammed, a resident at Kilometer 4 Street, said the number of cell phone muggers in the capital have increased. "I have been robbed twice this week. First night they took my mobile phone with gun on my head and the second time some money I had in my pocket and a watch I was wearing were taken with a dagger (Knife)," he told Shabelle.
Despite the insecurity in Mogadishu, Somali parliament is due to reconvene on Saturday to approve three months martial law on the strife-torn country.
An appeal of peacekeepers
The Somali president Abdulahi Yusuf has met his predecessors, Ali Mahdi and Abdulkasim Salad, who hail from Mogadishu last week to convince them to take roles in securing the capital.
Former president Salad asked that international peacekeepers should be deployed in Somalia immediately to replace the current Ethiopian troops in the country whose job is to go after Somali Islamists and al-Qaeda members reportedly hiding in southern Somalia.
The United States, whose AC 130 gunship struck southern jungles of Somalia on Monday, reported yesterday that no al-Qaeda member was killed in their air strike. More than 24 people are believed to have died on Monday's air strikes.
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