24 Somalis Killed in Mogadishu Fighting, May 16, 2010

24 Somalis Killed in Mogadishu Fighting

May 16, 2010

Clashes in Somali leave 24 people

Al-Alam TV, Mon, 17 May 2010 12:34:25 GMT

Clashes between government forces and gunmen in Somali have left at least 24 people dead, officials said.

The violence came as political turmoil erupted inside parliament in Mogadishu, with many of the war-wracked nation's MPs voting to sack the speaker after he called for the president to sack the prime minister.

Shabab gunmen opened fire with mortars in the direction of the recently renovated parliament building, which was preparing to host a session for the first time in 20 years.

Government troops and forces from the African Union retaliated with heavy artillery and mortars towards the city's southern Bakara area, one of the main militants strongholds, officials and medical sources said.

The Shabab fighters "tried to attack the parliament building but the government forces defeated them and many of their fighters were killed in the clashes," Ali Hassan, a government security official, said.

The building did not appear to have been hit by the militant shelling.

Meanwhile, in parliament, speaker Sheik Adan Mohamed Nur said that the government had lost the confidence of legislators and added that he had "therefore asked the president to name a new prime minister."

But his move sparked an uproar, and after the militant attack around 320 MPs met at a hotel in the capital to vote on ousting the speaker and finding a new one.

Most Somali deputies live abroad, mainly in neighboring Kenya, for security reasons and the parliament meets only very rarely.

Somalia has been wracked by civil war since 1991.

Calm Returns to Mogadishu

May 17, 2010

MOGADISHU (Sh. M. Network) –

Calm has returned to the warring areas in the Somali capital Mogadishu, a day after bitter shelling with heavy fighting that killed more people in Mogadishu on Sunday.

More than 10 people were killed while 30 more others wounded in yesterday’s bitter shelling and fighting exchanged into more different districts in Mogadishu as the disputed parliament’s session continued at Golaha Sha’bige, ther centre of the parlaiment on Sunday.

More of the people in Mogadishu told Shabelle radio that whole situation of the capital mainly the areas that the shelling continued returned normal as the movement of the traffic and business was also ok on Monday morning.

On the other hand the emergency traffic officials had expressed concern about the narrow streets blockaded the big Lorries parked on the highways and also the warrs as deploying the wounded civilians into the ospitals.

“We have great difficulties as deploying injured civilians to the hospitals mainly the big Lorries and also some times wars. But this is our duty, we will not halt it, we shall continue, because it’s a task for the Somali people,” said Ali Muse, head of the emergency responders.

The statement comes as there had been heavy clashes with bitter shelling that lost the lives of more civilians in the capital on Sunday.

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.