MOGADISHU, Somalia July 2 (Garowe Online) -
Upwards of 10 civilians were killed Tuesday night in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, as fighting raged between Ethiopian-backed interim government forces and Islamist-led insurgents.
The violence erupted in Hodan district, but residents reported that artillery shells hit homes in Waberi, Wadajir and Hamar-Jabab districts.
In Waberi district, a father lost his wife and four children when a shell landed inside their home, according to local radio reports.
Relatives and medical sources confirmed there were a total of 21 people wounded during last night's clashes, all of them civilians.
Abdirahim Isse Addow, a spokesman for the Islamic Courts militia, told Mogadishu-based radio that their fighters
took control of the strategic KM4 junction, which is patrolled by African Union peacekeepers.
Mogadishu police spokesman Abdullahi Hassan Barise told the press during a Wednesday briefing that there were "no AU or Ethiopian troops involved in the fighting."
Somalia's interim government and an Islamist-led opposition group signed a UN-mediated peace deal last month in Djibouti, calling for a 90-day ceasefire and the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops by October.
But some armed groups, including al Shabaab fighters, have refused to recognize the peace pact and continued attacks on government and Ethiopian forces.
Source: Garowe Online
