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12 soldiers wounded in Somalia
15/12/2007 16:05 - (SA)
Mogadishu - A roadside bomb wounded at
least 12 Somali soldiers in Baidoa and two people were killed in
violence in Mogadishu on Saturday.
The attacks in the capital and the south-central town
hosting Somalia's parliament came after two days of fighting in
Mogadishu between allied Somali-Ethiopian forces and Islamist
insurgents.
"A remote-controlled roadside bomb targeted a military
pick-up truck," said police officer Aden Moalim in Baidoa. "At
least 12 soldiers guarding the road to parliament, including one
Ethiopian, were hurt."
In the capital, two people died after grenades were hurled
at government troops patrolling Bakara Market, triggering a gun
battle.
A local journalist who asked not to be named said he saw the
insurgents execute one blindfolded captive during the clash
while the second victim was killed by crossfire.
"I and a few other people witnessed the killing of a
blindfolded man who was shot dead by six young men armed with
pistols," the journalist said. "Some people were saying the man
was suspected of spying for government forces."
Weapons seized
A police spokesperson said several weapons caches had been
seized since Friday during government operations in Bakara,
which contains an open-air weapons bazaar.
Four suspected insurgents were killed on Friday after being
seen firing mortars, he said, and several others were arrested.
At least 25 people have been killed in the capital since
Thursday when mortar bombs damaged parts of Bakara and sustained
fighting broke out in other parts of the city.
Many Somalis say the insurgents - remnants of a hardline
sharia courts groups chased out of the city a year ago - have
become increasingly confident in recent months while the interim
government has been hobbled by infighting.
The government says the rebels are backed by 4 500 foreign
jihadists from Afghanistan, Chechnya and the Middle East.
Fighting in Mogadishu has killed nearly 6 000 civilians this
year and uprooted some 720 000 more, a local rights group says.
The United Nations says the humanitarian crisis in Somalia is
Africa's worst.
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