| Fresh Gun Battles Break Out in Somali Capital |
By VOA News
03 November 2007
|
|
Fresh
gun
battles
erupted
Saturday
in the
Somali
capital
of
Mogadishu,
but
there
were no
immediate
reports
of
casualties.
A
roadside
bomb
exploded
in
southern
Somalia
as a
convoy
of
Ethiopian
reinforcements
passed
by on
their
way to
reinforce
troops
in the
capital,
Mogadishu.
And a
grenade
attack
on a
hotel
killed
one
person
and
wounded
seven
others
in the
town of
Dolow on
the
border
between
Ethiopia
and
Somalia.
 |
| Somali residents of a camp for displaced people gather some of their belongings they were able to salvage when their camp caught fire south of Mogadishu, 01 Nov 2007 |
Fierce
fighting
throughout
the week
has
prompted
Ethiopia
to send
more
troops
to
Mogadishu.
On
Friday,
insurgents
paraded
the
bodies
of some
of the
five
Ethiopian
troops
killed
in the
day's
fighting
through
Mogadishu's
streets.
The
United
Nations
says the
fighting
in
Mogadishu
has
displaced
90,000
people.
About 40
aid
agencies
say the
fighting
has made
it
impossible
to
respond
effectively
to the
needs of
those
displaced
and warn
that a
"humanitarian
catastrophe"
is
unfolding
in the
region.
Insurgents
and
pro-government
forces
have
fought
frequent
battles
in
Mogadishu
since
the
government
seized
control
of the
city
from an
Islamist
movement
earlier
this
year.
Ethiopia
sent
troops
to
Somalia
last
year to
help the
government
defeat
the
Islamists,
who were
threatening
to take
control
of the
entire
country.
Somali
opposition
leaders
based in
Eritrea
have
vowed to
fight
until
Ethiopian
troops
are off
Somali
soil.
Somalia
has not
had a
stable
central
government
since
1991.
