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Garowe Online (Garowe)

Somalia: 5 Killed in Mogadishu Market Violence

5 February 2008

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At least five people were killed in the Somali capital Tuesday after suspected insurgents launched a sneak attack on police officers collecting tax revenue at the livestock market in northern Mogadishu's Huriwa district, witnesses said.

Two policemen and a woman working with them died in the firefight, with the remaining two dead bodies belonging to a female trader who worked at the market and an insurgent.

Describing the chaotic scene, one witness told Garowe Online: "I saw the dead bodies of [one] policeman and a woman working with them [police] lying next to each other. Another policeman died in a different location [of the livestock market]...I also saw the dead bodies of a woman who sold tea and one of the attackers after the bullets stopped."

The witness, a trader who did not want his name published, said the police were "overwhelmed" during the "organized attack."

However, police reinforcements rushed to the scene and were able to disperse the attackers, he added.

This was the second gunfight in Mogadishu in the past 24 hours. At least 9 civilians were wounded in overnight Monday clashes that lasted for two hours, according to locals.

Mogadishu has seen little respite from insurgent violence since January 2007, when the Ethiopian army ousted Islamic Courts rulers from the capital and installed the weak interim government.

Although new Somali Prime Minister Nur "Adde" Hassan Hussein has repeatedly appealed for peace talks, the Islamist-led insurgents have refused to talk with the government until Ethiopian troops withdraw from Somali soil.

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