Ethiopian tanks guarding a Somali government base in Mogadishu opened fire on unidentified attackers on Thursday as clashes broke out in the capital for a second straight day.
Witnesses said the cannons thundered repeatedly over a 10-minute period, followed by the chatter of machine guns around the base, situated in a former Defence Ministry headquarters.
A separate gun battle also raged in the northern Ramadhan neighbourhood, witnesses said.
It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties, but hundreds of residents — mainly women and children — fled the fighting, pushing their belongings on donkey carts.
”The fighting is still going on. It is the remnants of the Islamists and the government fighting,” said a Ramadhan resident who declined to be identified for fear of reprisal.
The Defence Department base has been a favourite target of gunmen who almost daily launch hit-and-run attacks on the government and its allies, including African Union peacekeepers from Uganda who arrived this month.
Both areas were strongholds for the Islamist movement that ruled Mogadishu and its environs for the last half of 2006, until the government and Ethiopian soldiers defeated them and took the capital just before year-end.
The fighting follows one of the bloodiest days in Mogadishu since the government and its Ethiopian allies took over the city from the Islamic courts.
On Wednesday, residents dragged the corpses of what appeared to be government soldiers through the streets before burning them, after gunmen opposed to the government and its allies fought gun battles that killed at least 16 people.
Clan fight
The grisly scenes recalled the aftermath of the 1993 downings of two United States Black Hawk helicopters by Somali militiamen during a failed American operation to capture a warlord.
The images of dead American troops being dragged through the streets helped prompt the pull-out of US, and later, UN peacekeepers who were battered by regular militia attacks in the Horn of Africa nation.
Though many believe the insurgents are defeated Islamists, diplomats say criminals, warlord fighters and clan militiamen have also joined into a loose coalition opposed to a government they believe is a tool of foreign interests.
In Adado in north-central Somalia late on Wednesday, one soldier was killed and three others were wounded after an inter-clan dispute broke out at a government military camp, a doctor who treated the wounded said.
The fight was between soldiers from interim President Abdullahi Yusuf’s Darod clan and others from the Hawiye clan, a traditional rival.
Clan politics play a huge role in Somalia, and the rivalry between the Hawiye and Darod has caused major problems for the government since its inception in late 2004.
Al-Qaeda leader
Meanwhile, al-Qaeda has named a ruthless Islamist commander as its leader in Mogadishu, the Somali government said on Thursday.
Deputy Defence Minister Salad Ali Jelle said al-Qaeda had named Aden Hashi Ayro as its leader in the Somali capital. ”After Somali terrorists made consultations with al-Qaeda, Ayro was named as chief of al-Qaeda in Mogadishu,” Jelle told a press conference.
”They [Islamists] are killing people and intellectuals who are supporting the government,” he added.
Although Jelle did not say when and where the consultations took place, Western intelligence believes that there are numerous al-Qaeda operatives hiding with Somali Islamists.
”The government is fighting terrorists in Mogadishu. The government strongholds were attacked by the remnants of the Islamic courts led by Aden Hashi Ayro,” Jelle added.
Officials say Ayro survived US air strikes in southern Somalia in January that targeted at least three other extremists blamed for two terrorism attacks in East Africa in 1998 and 2002.
Early this month, an Islamist website released an audio-taped message attributed to Ayro, who called on Somalis to attack and kill Ethiopian troops deployed in Somalia.
Western intelligence sources have warned that Somalia risks becoming a terrorist haven if efforts to empower the government fail in the face of fierce opposition from powerful clans. — Reuters, AFP