Tuesday, March 06, 2007
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MOGADISHU, March 6 (Reuters) - Insurgents attacked the Somali interim government and their Ethiopian allies and battled for nearly an hour on Tuesday, shortly after mortar attacks were aimed at Ugandan peacekeepers who had just landed in Mogadishu.
At least two civilians -- a 25-year-old man and 40-year-old man -- were killed as at least 100 insurgents attacked the government base at the former defence headquarters in Mogadishu's industrial area, a local reporter said.
"They are fighting with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machineguns," said local reporter Anab Mohammed, who was trapped by the gunfire at a nearby hospital.
It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties in the earlier mortar strikes on Mogadishu's international airport, where more than a dozen explosions could be heard.
A contingent of about 350 Ugandan soldiers had landed just hours before, the first peacekeepers to enter the city in more than a decade.
Insurgents suspected to be a mix of Islamist militants defeated in a December war by the government and Ethiopia and clan militiamen have vowed to attack any peacekeepers or government allies.
They have mounted almost daily attacks since the government took over the capital in late December.
The Ugandans are the vanguard of an African Union force to help the government tame a country mired in anarchy since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
The last peacekeeping mission there -- a well-funded U.S.-U.N. operation -- ended in a bloody withdrawal in the mid-1990s after relentless fighting with heavily armed local militiamen.
Source: Reuters, Mar 06, 2007