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| Africa Horn |
| Somalia Clashes Between Government, Islamists Kill 16 People |
| 2008-07-22 |
| At least 16 people died, including seven children, in two separate attacks in the north of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, eyewitnesses and officials said. Islamist fighters clashed with government soldiers at Towfik junction in the north of the city yesterday, said Jamaal Hassan Mo'alim, a resident of the area. Five students at a local Quranic school were killed in the crossfire, he said. The victims were aged between 6 and 13. Three of them were siblings. ``Four students died on the spot after an artillery shell landed as they were running from their Quranic school,'' Mo'alim said. ``Another one died in the hospital later.'' Somalia has been wracked by violence since the government ejected Islamic fighters from southern and central areas of the Horn of Africa nation in January 2007. The United Nations estimates 1 million Somalis have been displaced within the country as people flee the fighting. al-Qaeda wants to establish a caliphate, or Islamic government, in the country. In today's attacks, two other teenagers died after a shell landed on a football field at Sukba'ad village, in northern Mogadishu, while they were playing soccer, said Ahmed Salad, a resident. Sheikh Abdi Rihin Isse Adow, a spokesman for the Islamist fighters, claimed responsibility for the attacks and said nine soldiers were killed in the confrontation. Muhiden Hansen Jures, a district commissioner in Towfik junction, denied any Somali government troops died. Convoy Ambushed In a separate incident in the southern Shabelle region yesterday, Islamist fighters ambushed a convoy of newly trained soldiers traveling from Baidoa, seat of the nation's parliament, to Mogadishu, said Deeko Warfa Hersi, a resident. Colonel Dahir Mohamed Hersi, an army spokesman, said 12 Islamist fighters were killed in the battle. Those killed included an Iraqi and a Pakistani, he said. ``Only one soldier was wounded during the battle, but we killed 12,'' Hersi said. Sheikh Muktar Ali Robow Abu Mansoor, a spokesman for the al-Shabaab militia, claimed responsibility for the attack on the convoy. ``Three of our martyrs died and three others were wounded, but we killed several of them, although it was night and it was not possible to count,'' he said in a teleconference with reporters in Mogadishu late yesterday. He denied any foreign fighters were involved in the attack. |
| Posted by:Fred |