The Associated Press
Published: May 28, 2007
MOGADISHU, Somalia: Two explosions and a prolonged gunbattle shook northern Mogadishu overnight, leaving two people dead, officials and witnesses said Monday, while police killed two other men suspected of robbing civilians.
Government officials declined to comment on the overnight explosions and gunfire in the Somali capital, but witnesses said at least one blast had come from suspected insurgents throwing an explosive device at a police station in the Huriwaa district. No police officers were reported injured.
Another explosion occurred near an Ethiopian army base, prompting an hours-long gunbattle, but it was not clear who was fighting whom.
It was near the Ethiopian base where the two bodies in civilian clothes were seen, with gunshots in the back and in the chest, area resident Abdi Hashi Nour said. It was not clear if the bodies were civilians or suspected insurgents. Nour said they were removed by police, who cordoned off the area.
“The fighting is not over in our district,” said another resident, Abdulkadir Shidane Ali. “There are bomb attacks every night on the bases of either government soldiers or the Ethiopians by unknown men, and we pay the price because a curfew has been imposed. We face arbitrary arrests and are caught up in gunbattles.”
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Government spokesman Abdi Haji Gobdon and the police commander of Huriwaa district, Col. Abdi Hassan, declined to comment.
Separately, government forces killed two men dressed in army uniforms in a gunbattle on Sunday night, after finding the men attempting to rob people of mobile phones and money in northern Mogadishu, local government official Abdullahi Mohamed Roble said. Four others in the gang were arrested, Roble said.
The bodies of the two dead men, showing no visible wounds but with their feet bound, were displayed outside a government building Monday as “an example” for anyone who thought of similar crimes, Roble said.
Ethiopia reopened its embassy in Mogadishu on Sunday for the first time since the countries fought a war 30 years ago, strengthening the nations’ ties as Somalia tries to stave off an Islamic insurgency.
Somalia’s government has struggled to survive since forming with backing from the United Nations in 2004, and was sidelined by a radical Islamic group until Ethiopia’s military intervened Dec. 24 and turned the tide.
But insurgents linked to the Islamic group, known as the Council of Islamic Courts, have launched an Iraq-style guerrilla war, saying the government is allowing Ethiopia to “occupy” the country. The U.S. has long accused the group of having ties to al-Qaida, which the council denies.
Last month, the government declared victory over the insurgents, who want Somalia to become an Islamic state. Battles killed at least 1,670 people between March 12 and April 26. Months of violence drove about a fifth of Mogadishu’s 2 million residents to flee for safety since February.
The Council of Islamic Courts ruled much of southern Somalia for six quiet months in 2006 before being driven from power by Somali troops and their Ethiopian allies.