Garowe Online (Garowe)
17 January 2008
Garowe — Heavy gun battles shook Somalia's capital overnight Wednesday and into Thursday, killing at least 20 people and wounding nearly 90 others.
Three civilians were killed last night inside their home when a mortar slammed into a camp where hundreds of internally displaced people live, witnesses said.
The fighting, which was concentrated in Mogadishu's Hodan district, sparked when insurgents attacked the positions of government troops.
But a heavier battle erupted midday Thursday near Bakara market, quickly spreading into surrounding neighborhoods.
The face-to-face combat began when insurgent fighters shot and killed two Ethiopian soldiers in a sneak attack. Allied Somali-Ethiopian troops rushed to the scene and a gunfight ensued, witnesses reported.
Ethiopian troops used tanks and other heavy weaponry to combat the insurgents, who used a combination of weapons, including rockets, machineguns and grenades.
Today's battle forced Bakara market to completely shut down, as storeowners and customers alike fled to safety.
Contacts at two Mogadishu hospitals, Medina and Keysaney, confirmed to Garowe Online that a total of 90 wounded people were admitted since last night's battles.
Mogadishu has become a virtual war zone ever since Ethiopian troops entered the capital in January 2007, after militarily ousting Islamic Courts rulers.
Before peacefully retreating from Mogadishu, the Islamists vowed to carry out a bloody guerrilla struggle until Ethiopian forces withdraw from Somali soil.
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