Heavy shelling in Somali capital

[N.O.R.F]

Heavy shelling in Somali capital

 

Somali government forces and Ethiopian troops have shelled areas of Somalia's capital Mogadishu after their positions came under fire from insurgents.

At least 10 people were killed in the exchanges - the heaviest since the government took Mogadishu from an Islamist group late last year.

 

Unknown gunmen launch almost daily attacks in the city.

 

Some Islamists, who last year were in control of much of southern Somalia, have vowed to start a guerrilla war.

 

The government blames the attacks on Islamist fighters and on Monday set up a special unit to target "terrorists".

 

Dozens of people have been killed during attacks this year.

 

Horror-filled night

 

Insurgents attacked the city's main sea port, the presidential palace known as Villa Somalia and two government and Ethiopian military barracks with mortars during the night, says the BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu.

 

Troops responded with artillery leaving at least 10 civilians dead, including women and children, and at least 40 others wounded, witnesses and local residents said.

 

We spent the whole night under this concrete wall because I did not know where to run

 

Ruqiyo Madobe Ahmed

Mogadishu resident and mother of four

 

Several houses were also destroyed, although details are still emerging.

 

"Four people including my four-year-old son have died, when four mortars hit our area," said southern Mogadishu resident Mohamed Abdi Farh.

 

Doctors and nurses at two of Mogadishu's main hospitals said more than 40 people were taken to hospital only on Tuesday morning.

 

"About 33 people, six of them children, were brought here, all of them this morning because they had no access to the hospital in the night," said Medina Hospital director Sheikh Doon Salad Ilmi.

 

Hundreds of Mogadishu residents poured onto the streets in search of concrete buildings for cover as the pop of artillery gunfire and the boom of explosives echoed across the capital, our correspondent said.

 

"We spent the whole night under this concrete wall because I did not know where to run," said Ruqiyo Madobe Ahmed, 34, a mother of four.

 

"From 2000 (1700 GMT) to dawn this morning, we have remained alert, fearing that the attacks could escalate," said southern Mogadishu resident Jamaal Abdi-nasir.

 

Residents say it was the most horrific night they had had since the government troops took over control of Mogadishu.

 

"In terms of the extent of the explosion and the number of attacks, I think we have experienced the worst violence," said Hodan Wali Nuure, a mother of a six-year-old boy, who was wounded by shrapnel from a nearby explosion.

 

AU peacekeepers

 

The African Union is planning to send a peacekeeping force to Somalia to replace the Ethiopian soldiers who have started to withdraw after helping the government oust the Islamists.

 

After 16 years without an effective national government, Mogadishu is awash with weapons.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6377941.stm

[Jacaylbaro]

MOGADISHU, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Mortar bombs hit several parts of Mogadishu before dawn on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people in one of the fiercest bombardments since an Islamist movement was chased from Somalia's capital last month.

 

The hilltop presidential palace, Villa Somalia, and the coastal city's defence headquarters were among the targets hit.

 

"They showered us with rockets and a mortar also hit the compound. Luckily no one was hurt," said a government soldier who was in Villa Somalia during the attack but declined to be named for fear of reprisal.

 

"Our troops and those from our ally Ethiopia were forced to fire heavy artillery," he told Reuters. "We had to retaliate. These elements are being paid to cause all this destruction."

 

A woman living nearby said several people were wounded in the surrounding streets, and a Reuters TV cameraman saw five bodies in a western neighbourhood also hit by mortar rounds.

 

At one Mogadishu hospital alone officials said there were more than 40 wounded, three of whom died of their injuries.

 

"We have had to send home those with light wounds because we are overwhelmed," said one doctor who asked not to be named.

 

Relatives gathered around patients wrapped in bandages lying on the steamy, crowded hospital's bloodstained floors.

 

A spate of near-daily rocket and mortar strikes have challenged the government's bid to impose security and let Ethiopian troops who helped it oust the Islamists go home.

 

Deputy Defence Minister Salad Ali Jelle said two other civilians were killed in the attack on the defence headquarters. He accused Islamist remnants of paying the attackers.

 

"The insurgents are paying $100 a day to whoever fires rockets and mortars at the government and people," he said.

 

TARGETING EXTREMISTS

 

But Jelle said a 24-hour rapid response paramilitary unit that was unveiled on Monday would soon show results in its fight to stop the wave of guerrilla-style attacks.

 

"The plan is expand our control in the city so the extremists are no longer safe anywhere," he said.

 

With Ethiopian military help, Somali troops have boosted patrols and set up more checkpoints to help curb the bloodshed.

 

The attacks underscore the huge challenge facing President Abdullahi Yusuf's government as it tries to tame a nation in anarchy since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991.

 

His administration says it is doing its best to police one of the world's most dangerous cities with little help.

 

Ugandan soldiers are due to deploy soon in Mogadishu as the vanguard of an 8,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force to replace the Ethiopian presence, which infuriates many Somalis who view Ethiopia as a centuries-old rival. Also on Tuesday, one of three private media groups summoned by intelligence chiefs a day earlier said it was "shocked and dismayed" after being told to stop reporting unrest in the city.

 

Shabelle TV and radio said the deputy head of national security "threatened the directors that (under) martial law... government soldiers can shoot and kill everyone they want".

 

Last month, the government ordered Shabelle, HornAfrik Media and two other broadcasters shut down, but reversed the decision a day later after an international outcry.

 

Shabelle Chairman Abdi Maalik Yusuf Mohamuud said it was now "crystal clear" Somalia's independent media was under attack.

 

"The international community, which invested millions of dollars in the formation of this government ... should interfere in the matter and help," he said in a statement on Tuesday.

[Peacenow]

The TFG 'ministers' are getting scared s+++++++. They know they are deeply unpopular and they are the targets of this, the occupiers, will not be able to protect them forever and they are trembling.

 

Also note, how the attacks are becoming deadlier as time moves on. Soon the mortar attacks over the wall will turn into rockets bringing down helicopters. It's only a matter of time.