Somalia's Shebab militia wrested control of a border-town from pro-government forces Wednesday, witnesses and a rights group said, as Islamist insurgents battled African Union peacekeepers and Somali police for a second day, bringing to 69 the death toll in the worst bout of fighting for weeks. The Shebab overpowered government forces in Hodur, some 300 kilometers (180 miles) northwest of the capital Mogadishu near the Ethiopian border, in clashes that erupted early in the morning, the group said.
The flare-up in violence in the caital came just days after new President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed returned to Mogadishu to set up his new unity government, the 15th attempt to bring peace to the failed Horn of Africa state since 1991. Ahmed, a former Islamist rebel leader himself, has pledged to stabilize Somalia.
"Fighting has killed 48 civilians and injured 90 in the last 30 hours," said Ali Yasin Gedi, vice-chairman of the local Elman Peace and Human Rights group.
Witnesses said at least 15 Islamist fighters and six policemen were also killed in exchanges of gunfire and mortar bombs that have rocked the coastal capital for two days.
Rebel militia takes control
" There was heavy fighting in the town this morning and the Somali government forces fled after the fighting and the Shebab are controlling the town now "Mohamed Dirie, a Hodur resident |
"The town has fallen to the Shebab fighters and there is no fighting inside the town now," local elder Adan Mohamed Yunus said, adding that he had no word on casualties.
"There was heavy fighting in the town this morning and the Somali government forces fled after the fighting and the Shebab are controlling the town now," said Mohamed Dirie, a Hodur resident.
The Shebab, a former military youth wing of an Islamist movement ousted by Ethiopia-backed Somali forces two years ago, had carried out relentless attacks against the Ethiopian forces who withdrew from Somalia last month. In recent months, the Shebab have also launched operations against rival Somali factions and conquered large swathes of territory, leaving government forces in control of little more than a handful of blocks in Mogadishu.
Islamist forces opposed to U.N.-sponsored reconciliation efforts in Somalia have launched several deadly attacks against the government and African Union forces in recent days.