At least four Somalis were killed on Friday as heavy fighting broke out in the capital Mogadishu between insurgents and the Ethiopian-backed government forces, police and witnesses said. An AFP reporter in Mogadishu described the clashes as among the most intense since April, when the interim government wrested final control of the city from an Islamist militia that briefly held large parts of the country. The latest bout of fighting erupted in southern Mogadishu at around midnight and lasted for an hour and a half, witnesses said, adding that no further clashes were reported on Friday morning. The worst fighting took place around the Holwadag police station, which insurgents attacked with machine guns and rocket launchers. "We suffered no casualties but a civilian in a nearby house was killed," policeman Mohammed Farah said.
Witnesses said insurgents also launched a mortar and rocket attack against a Somali security position near a
Fighting was also reported near an Ethiopian army post in the Ali Kamin district, where the dead body of a civilian was later found. "I saw the body of a man who was shot in the head... but nobody knows who killed him," local resident Siyad Adan Fiyore said. A grenade also struck a civilian home in the southern neighbourhood of Shirkole, wounding three brothers, according to the victims' sister. Since being defeated by the Ethiopian army and their Somali allies, insurgents have carried out almost daily hit-and-run attacks but sustained direct clashes have been rare.
The latest violence brings to at least 11 the number of people killed in Mogadishu violence over the past 48 hours.