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Mogadishu 'is real hell'
21/04/2007 22:29 - (SA)
Mogadishu - Mortar shells and machine gun clashes between Ethiopian soldiers and Islamist insurgents killed at least 55 civilians on Saturday and swelled the exodus from the Somali capital.
Renewed fighting that has convulsed Mogadishu has now claimed at least 168 lives since Wednesday, according to a human rights group that tracks casualty figures.
Residents predicted the civilian toll would rise as many people were believed to have died in areas now cut off by the fighting. Four days of fighting early this month killed at least 1 000 civilians.
The Ethiopian army fire mortar and rocket rounds from the presidential palace in southern Mogadishu at several rebel hideouts, sparking a volley of retaliatory fire from insurgents, residents said.
"As of this evening, we have 55 people confirmed killed. But this is not the final figure, there are areas that we have not visited," said Sudan Ali Ahmed, chairperson of the Elman Peace and Human Rights Organisation.
The organisation has collated casualty figures from hospitals, other humanitarian groups and bodies left in the streets.
He said there was also a "very high" number of wounded. "What we are seeing in Mogadishu is unspeakable, unbelievable ... it is real hell."
Witnesses said several dismembered bodies were strewn in the battle zone.
Islamist insurgents and some clan warlords have vowed to oust the Ethiopians who helped Somalia's UN-backed government in January to expel the Somali Council of Islamic Courts from Mogadishu.
The rivals exchanged heavy machinegun fire in several neighbourhoods, where insurgents in modified pick-up trucks and Ethiopian tanks made deadly forays accompanied by reckless shooting.
- AFP
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