At least eight people were killed in attacks in southern and central Somalia, during which four people were also wounded, witnesses said on Tuesday.
In a one-hour gun battle between 40 heavily armed insurgents and government soldiers in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, two men and a four year-old child were killed, said Abdi Mo’alin Mohamed, a clan elder.
”I woke up with the noise of vehicles and men shouting ‘God is Great’. I peeped from my rooftop and saw about 40 men armed with heavy machine-guns and RPGs [rocket-propelled grenade launchers], who arrived in five vehicles and started immediately firing at government bases,” said Omar Haji, who lives near a government base that came under attack late on Monday.
Dr Dahir Dhere of Medina Hospital said a solder died from his wounds and staff were treating a civilian injured in the attack.
Deputy Defence Minister Salad Ali Jelle said remnants of the ousted Islamic courts and allied insurgents were responsible for the attack.
”Terrorists of the remnants of the courts and insurgents, who are not happy with any kind of administration in Somalia, are always behind such attacks,” said Jelle.
Separately, two children and their father were killed when Ethiopian troops fired artillery shells into a residential area after a landmine exploded as their convoy patrolled a northern part of the central Somali town of Belet Weyne, witnesses said.
A 60-year-old man also died of shock when an artillery shell ripped through his house, said Abdi Adow, a neighbour. Three other people were wounded in the attack, he said.
Salad Aden Indhagir, a minibus driver, said he saw three Ethiopian soldiers lying on the ground after the landmine exploded, but he did not know whether they were dead.
Mogadishu has seen little peace since Ethiopian troops supporting Somalia’s fragile government drove out a radical Islamic group in December. Roadside bombs, attacks on government installations, assassination attempts and gun battles have become common. Civilians often are caught in the crossfire.
Insurgents linked to the Islamic movement have vowed to launch an Iraq-style guerrilla war until the country becomes an Islamic state.
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the violence in the capital.
Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned against one another, defending clan fiefdoms. The government was formed in 2004 with the help of the United Nations, but has struggled to assert any real control. — Sapa-AP