Mogadishu

At least 1 086 people were killed in four days of recent heavy clashes between Ethiopian forces and Islamist fighters backed by clan militia in Mogadishu, elders from the Hawiye clan said on Tuesday. The fighting, which erupted late last month when Ethiopian forces launched a bloody crackdown on suspected insurgents in the Somali capital, also left 4 334 people wounded.

One explosion and some gunfire sounded across Mogadishu on Monday morning, but the Somali capital was generally quieter after four days of non-stop battles pitting Ethiopian and Somali troops against insurgents. Residents say several hundred people have died since soldiers launched an offensive against the rebels on Thursday.

Artillery fire rocked Mogadishu for a third day on Saturday as Ethiopian and Somali troops backed by helicopter gunships resumed a major offensive against Islamist insurgents and clan militiamen. Scores of civilians have been killed in what the International Committee of the Red Cross says is the capital’s worst fighting for more than 15 years.

Shells rained down on Mogadishu in a second day of battles on Friday as Ethiopian and Somali troops sought to flush out militant Islamist insurgents in the worst fighting since a war over the New Year. After around 30 people died on Thursday, terrified residents said there was no let-up in the fighting across the bullet-scarred city on the Indian Ocean coast.

Helicopters pounded rebel positions and tanks rumbled through Mogadishu on Thursday as allied Ethiopian and Somali government troops launched a major push against insurgents, with 11 civilians reported killed. Ethiopian helicopter gunships fired rockets, residents said, in the first use of aerial power in the capital.

Fighting rocked the Somali capital on Thursday, breaking a shaky, days-old ceasefire between insurgents and Ethiopian troops allied to the government, a Reuters witness said. ”We are seeing smoke from explosions,” said Reuters cameraman Farah Roble, who could not leave his office due to gunfire.

The dominant clan in Somalia’s chaotic capital, Mogadishu, on Monday freed 18 prisoners captured during fighting with interim government forces. Elders of the Hawiye clan have been in talks with the government and its Ethiopian military allies since about 20 people died last week in the city’s worst bloodshed since a war over the New Year to oust militant Islamists.

All 11 crew members on a cargo plane that was shot down by a missile during take-off were killed, officials said on Saturday. The downing of the plane on Friday, after it had delivered equipment for Ugandan peacekeepers in Mogadishu, came at the end of a particularly violent week in the Somali capital.

Residents reported seeing a burning plane crash in northern Mogadishu on Friday. One witness said it was a Ugandan military plane and that it was shot down. ”We saw a burning plane coming down,” said Muse Sheik Osman, who lives in the north of the capital. He said he heard the sound of an anti-aircraft missile being fired shortly before the crash.

Clashes broke out in Mogadishu for the third day on Friday between gunmen and Ethiopian troops helping the government fight an insurgency many fear could plunge Somalia back into civil war. Witnesses heard shelling and cannon fire near a former defence headquarters, the scene of repeated fighting between insurgents and the government and its Ethiopian allies since Wednesday.

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. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda has named a ruthless Islamist commander as its leader in Mogadishu, the Somali government said.

Angry crowds burned the bodies of two dead soldiers in Mogadishu on Wednesday, where fighting claimed some 14 lives, while the Somali Islamist leader defended the capital’s bloody insurgency. Exchanges of heavy weapons fire across southern Mogadishu killed six uniformed soldiers and eight civilians.

Ethiopia’s foreign minister on Thursday urged Somalis to support African Union peacekeepers deploying to boost a weak government in the face of deadly insurgency. This comes as Ethiopian troops scale down operations. ”I am urging the Somalis to work closely with AU troops to bring lasting peace,” Seyoum Mesfin said.

Somalia’s prime minister appealed on Wednesday for ,6-million to fund a national reconciliation meeting in Mogadishu and said the next two weeks would prove if it could secure the violent capital in time. Eight people died on Tuesday when a barrage of mortar bombs launched by suspected Islamic insurgents struck the city’s presidential palace.

Unidentified gunmen on Tuesday ambushed an Ethiopian military convoy south of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, sparking a heavy gun battle, wounding at least nine, witnesses said. ”An Ethiopian military convoy that was leaving the airport has been ambushed by gunmen. They used machine guns and RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades],” said Ali Hassan Nur, a resident.

Ugandan peacekeepers suffered their first casualties in an ambush by Somali insurgents after landing this week to help the country’s interim government restore stability, an officer said on Thursday. Captain Paddy Ankunda said two soldiers were hurt when unknown gunmen attacked the troops late on Wednesday in Mogadishu.

Insurgents attacked the airport in Mogadishu on Tuesday and fought a heavy battle with government and Ethiopian troops as Ugandan peacekeepers arrived in Somalia’s lawless capital. More than a dozen mortar strikes hit near the airport, where about 350 Ugandans were camped after landing earlier on Tuesday.

Mortar bombs hit several parts of Mogadishu before dawn on Tuesday, killing at least 16 people in one of the fiercest bombardments since an Islamist movement was chased from Somalia’s capital last month. The hilltop presidential palace, Villa Somalia, and the coastal city’s defence headquarters were among the targets hit.

Somalia’s government has formed an anti-terror unit to quell growing unrest in the capital, Mogadishu, a defence official said on Monday. The paramilitary force was trained by Ethiopian troops who helped the interim government rout an Islamic group that held the capital and most of southern Somalia until late last year.

Her possessions and her two children at her side in a dusty bus stop in Mogadishu, Asha Mohamed has decided to forsake Somalia’s capital city for any place with fewer explosions. ”I am running away from the continuous mortar and rocket attacks,” Mohamed said on Wednesday as her son played on an old mattress. ”I have survived several attacks.”