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by Mustafa Haji Abdinur
11 February 2007
MOGADISHU (AFP) - At least eight people were killed and several others wounded in mortar and grenade attacks in an escalation of guerilla-style attacks in the Somali capital, witnesses said.
Hours later, a camp housing Ethiopian troops in southern Mogadishu came under heavy fire, sparking fighting in the lawless capital, residents said.
Assailants fired several mortar shells at a crowded market in the south of the city, killing three people and wounding several others, forcing many to flee the volatile area.
"We heard heavy explosions and immediately there was dust darkened everywhere. I saw three dead people at the scene and there were others wounded ... there was confusion and nobody knows what the hell happened," said Haji Nure Dini, a trader.
Two children were also killed when shells landed in a camp for displaced persons and in a position near a former military camp in the capital's southern district, local resident Nur Hassan Waberi told AFP.
Other casualties occurred when a barrage of mortar and grenades was fired into positions near the United Nations Development Programme offices and the international airport as well as into the Gupta neighbourhood.
"Two people, one of them a young girl, were killed and five others wounded after a shell landed in their living room, the two were from the same family and they died at the spot," said local resident Shamso Bare Mohamed.
And finally a young girl hawking wares was killed after gunmen fired grenades into a hotel, in the north of the city, where dozens of people had gathered for a government-backed peace and reconciliation seminar.
"A young girl who was hawking (wares) near the hotel was killed ... I have also seen three people injured, one of them a policeman," Muhidin Mohamed, a resident, told AFP.
Residents said gunmen fired heavy rounds into southern Mogadishu's "Villa Baidoa" that houses Ethiopian troops, igniting a deadly exchange of fire.
"The gunmen fired heavy rounds into Villa Baidoa and the Ethiopian forces responded with heavy machine gun fire. The fighting continued for about 15 minutes," Ali Mohamed, a resident said.
"We have heard explosions of RGP (rocket propelled grenade) and small arms firms," said resident Dahir Gulled, explaining that he earlier saw a pick up truck packed with gunmen headed to the area.
Momahed said the Ethiopian forces, deployed to support the weak Somalia government, sealed off the area and took positions. There was no information on any casualties.
Since the joint Ethiopia-Somali force seized control of the country in December, Mogadishu has seen a rise in violence, blamed on a defeated Islamist movement which has vowed a prolonged insurgency.
Such attacks, targeted mainly against positions believed to be held by the government and its allies, have claimed dozens of lives and spread panic across the city, further complicating the government's stabilisation plan.
The escalation comes as the international community scrambles to deploy 8,000 troops to help embattled President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, whose government is in the outpost of Baidoa, stamp his authority across the country.
So far, the African Union has been able to secure pledges for about 4,000 troops from Uganda and Nigeria, with Malawi, which earlier had said it would contribute, saying a final decision is yet to be made.
No date has been set for the deployment and analysts have warned that lack of political commitment and funds might scupper yet another attempt to end anarchy in Somalia.
The defeated Islamists have vowed to attack and kill peacekeepers, a spectre that dampens hopes of such a deployment, which has been delayed since 2005 for fear of further confrontation and insufficient funds.
A previous 1993-1995 peace mission ended disastrously after UN and US troops fled the country, paving the way for the rise of clan warlords.
In addition, the violence pours cold water on Yusuf's pledge to convene a national reconciliation conference to heal rifts in the country torn apart by systemic bloodletting.
Somalia, home to 10 million people, has lacked an effective central authority since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre that plunged the country into chaos.