Unreliable calm returns to Mogadishu after a day of bloodshed
By Yusuf Hagi, Australia.to correspondent in Mogadishu, Somalia
Mogadishu, Somalia, January3, 2010-- some clam felt on Saturday morning in parts of the war ravaged capital of Somalia after a day of deadly gun battle between the Islamists and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) troops with the help of African forces in Somalia, Australia.to learns here today.
Residents in Mogadishu are talking about the Friday’s deadly fighting that claimed at least the life of 16 civilians who separately killed in different districts in the capital when Islamist fighters launched attacks seemed to be well organized in various parts of government and AU bases.
“One day of sadness passed the Mogadishu community,” Maryama Farah Hirey, an old woman live in the battle field told Australia.to by phone.
“Exchanging heavy artilleries over innocents tells us that there is not any humanity and kindness,” she added during the interview.
Some unreliable calm returned in yesterday’s areas where the battles and shelling took place.
The Islamist militants of Al-Shabab, the Al-Qaeda linked group, claimed that there were behind the simultaneous attacks targeted to the western backed fragile government bases in the capital.
A press release issued by the Al-shbab Islamists said that two of their fighters were killed in the fighting and three others were wounded.
The Islamist offensives come as the country’s president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed celebrates for his first anniversary in the presidential palace.
Islamist extremists from Al-shaba and Hezb Al-Islam control most of the country and vowed to continue fighting until they drive out the Sharif’s fragile government backed by United Nations.
The Somali government leader, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, also announced that his forces will soon recapture all parts of the country.
Somalia had been plunged into anarchy after the overthrow of former President Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, when warlords used their clan-based militias to remove Barre only to turn on each other for power, leading to constant inter-clan war which left thousands killed and millions displaced.
