Ethiopian troops involve in deadly clashes

Mogadishu, April 20, 2008 (AFP) - At least 18 people, many of them civilians, were killed on Saturday in heavy fighting between Ethiopian forces and Islamist insurgents in the Somali capital, witnesses said.

The clashes in the northern Mogadishu districts killed 11 civilians, five militants and two Ethiopian forces in the latest of a series of violent incidents that have convulsed the seaside city, they said.

Ethiopian troops moved into the northern Huriwa neighbourhood early Saturday but encountered tough resistance from the insurgents, sparking heavy exchanges of fire and trapping civilians in the crossfire.

"Five civilians died when an artillery shell landed in a small restaurant near Fagah junction. There were pieces of human flesh and blood everywhere," Hasan Mudey, who owns a grocery in the area, told AFP.

Muktar Adan Somo, another resident, gave the same death toll and said that many people were eating in the restaurant when the shell struck.

Other incidents in the Huriwaa district left at least three civilians dead, witnesses said.

"I saw three dead civilians in my neighbourhood. They were caught in the crossfire... This is the heaviest fighting we've seen here for two months," said Abdulahi Farah, an eyewitness.

Three bodies of civilians were later recovered from the battleground, a witness told AFP, bringing the civilian toll to 11.

Two Ethiopian forces and five militants were also killed in the clashes, several witness said, bring the overall toll to 18 dead.

"I saw two Ethiopian soldiers who were killed in the fighting in front of my house. There were also some soldiers injured, but I do not know the number," said Ahmed Abdullah Aweys, a resident of northern Mogadishu.

The new death toll was corroborated by several witnesses, who said it might rise because many people were injured and other battlegrounds were still inaccessible.

Mogadishu is rocked by almost daily clashes pitting Islamist insurgents against Ethiopian-backed Somali government troops.

Ethiopian troops came to the rescue of the embattled transitional government in late 2006 to oust an Islamist militia which had taken control of large swathes of the restive Horn of Africa country.

The rebels were ousted from the capital a year ago, but the militia's remnants have since waged a deadly guerrilla war against the government as well as allied Ethiopian troops and African Union peacekeepers.

Mogadishu has been the epicentre of the clashes that have killed thousands and forced hundreds of thousands of others to flee.

Aid workers warn the insecurity is blocking humanitarian operations, threatening hundreds of thousands of needy lives.

Somalia has lacked an effective government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre paved the way for factional clashes that have defied numerous bids to restore stability. - Sapa-AFP