Tuesday, July 31, 2007


MOGADISHU, Somalia, Jul. 31, 2007 (AP Online delivered by Newstex) -- Insurgents attacked government buildings in Somalia's capital, starting a gunbattle with troops that killed at least four people, including a four-year-old child, witnesses said Tuesday.

In the central town of Belet Weyne, two children and their father were killed when Ethiopian troops fired artillery shells into a residential area after a land mine exploded near their convoy, witnesses said.

About 40 heavily armed insurgents drove up to government buildings in Mogadishu late Monday and attacked with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, said Omar Haji, who lives near one of the government bases that came under attack.

'I woke up with the noise of vehicles and men shouting 'God is Great.' I peeped from my rooftop and saw about 40 men armed with heavy machine-guns and RPGs, who arrived in five vehicles and started immediately firing at government bases,' he said.

Two men and a four year-old child were killed in the one-hour gunbattle, said Abdi Mo'alin Mohamed, a clan elder.

Dr. Dahir Dhere of Medina Hospital said a soldier died of his wounds and an injured civilian was being treated.

Deputy Defense Minister Salad Ali Jelle said remnants of a radical group known as the Council of Islamic Courts and allied insurgents were responsible for the attack.

'Terrorists of the remnants of the courts and insurgents, who are not happy with any kind of administration in Somalia, are always behind such attacks,' said Jelle.

In the Belet Weyne violence late Monday, a 60 year-old man also died of shock when an artillery shell ripped through his house, said Abdi Adow, a neighbor. Three other people were wounded in the attack, he said.

Salad Aden Indhagir, a minibus driver, said he saw three Ethiopian soldiers lying on the ground after the land mine exploded, but he did not know whether they were dead.

Mogadishu has seen little peace since Ethiopian troops supporting Somalia's fragile government drove out a radical Islamic group in December. Roadside bombs, attacks on government installations, assassination attempts and gunbattles have become common. Civilians often are caught in the crossfire, and hundreds of thousands of people have fled the capital.

Insurgents have vowed to wage an Iraq-style guerrilla war until the country becomes an Islamic state.

Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned against one another, defending clan fiefdoms. The government was formed in 2004 with the help of the United Nations, but has struggled to assert any real control.

Newstex ID: AP-0001-18543598


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