130 dead in Somalia fighting

The violence in Somalia is definitely smacking of civil war, and neither side has any real interest in the civilian casualties. But the Somalian people face a terrible choice: no government, government run by warlords, or government run by islamic fundamentalists.

And yet another conflict fed by the illegal arms trade. This should hopefully put even more pressure on the U.N. to deal with the issue at the upcoming summit on small arms.

Bloody battles between transitional government forces and Islamic fighters have killed at least 130 people in Somalia’s capital, mostly civilian bystanders, and wounded 280 others, hospital officials say.

The Sii-Sii neighborhood, a residential area of northern Mogadishu, was pounded by heavy artillery and mortar fire Friday as violence clashes continued for a sixth day.

The fighting spread later in the day to the neighboring district of Yaqshid, Reuters reported.

The transitional government forces are made of aligned warlords, while the Muslim fighters are a coalition of radical Islamic leaders, known as the Islamic Court Union.

On Thursday, Islamic troops battled with the government forces for control of a strategic road in Mogadishu, The Associated Press reported.

Thousands of families have begun to flee the capital, AP said.

Many residents described the fighting as the worst they have seen in more than a decade of lawlessness, the news agency reported.

“This is the first time we have witnessed people fighting in Somalia and targeting civilians in such a savage way,” said Jama Mohamud told AP, while sitting with his injured wife in a local hospital.

Jama said all three of his children were killed when the family’s house was struck by mortar shells.

Journalist Mohaned Amin told CNN...

Posted by senssensibilityr
Student of German and Russian culture, history and language, emphasis on post-Dark Age European History. German and Russian 20th century literature. Studying Arabic. Cannot wait to go to Freiburg to study @ Goethe Institut im Februar.