By Mohamed Olad Hassan, AP

MOGADISHU – Somali and Ethiopian troops entered an insurgent stronghold in central Mogadishu on Wednesday, setting off a battle in which at least seven people were killed and 10 were wounded, witnesses and medical officials said.

Hundreds of masked insurgents confronted the government forces, which were supported by tanks and armored vehicles, said Ali Haji Jama, a resident of the northeastern neighborhood at the center of the fighting.

An AP photographer saw insurgents drag the bodies of Ethiopian soldier and one Somali government soldier through the streets of northeastern Mogadishu and then set them on fire.

“Ethiopian tanks rolled out of the former defense ministry and moved into nearby Shirkole area, which is seen as the stronghold of the insurgent groups and they met with stiff resistance,” he said. Other witnesses said minibuses filled with insurgents were racing through the city to reach Shirkole and defend against the Ethiopian advance.

Muqtar Abdulahi Dahir, a Mogadishu businessman, said he saw the same minibuses carrying away the wounded.

“I also saw insurgents evacuating some of their men with minibuses, but I am not sure whether they were dead or not,” he said.

Medical officials at Mogadishu’s three hospitals said they had recorded at least seven dead and 10 wounded by midmorning. Government officials did not answer their telephones early Wednesday.

Ethiopia sent soldiers into Somalia in December to counter an Islamic movement that threatened to destroy Somalia’s internationally-recognized government. Though they have lost control most of their territory, the Islamic forces refuse to accept defeat, and violence has continued in the capital. Mortar attacks forced dozens of residents to flee Mogadishu on Tuesday.

Somali leaders have said in recent weeks that they were preparing a major offensive to stop the growing insurgency.

Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991. The present government has so far failed to assert itself and the African Union has deployed a small peacekeeping force to defend it.

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