Witness: 8 killed in overnight fighting sparked by insurgent attack in Somali capital
By APMonday, February 1, 2010
8 killed in fighting in Somalia’s capital
HARGEISA, Somalia — A witness says at least eight civilians were killed when insurgents and soldiers pounded each other’s positions with mortars in the Somali capital.
Osman Guled says he and other elders on Monday removed the bodies from the rubble of their homes in northern Mogadishu to prepare them for burial. Guled says the fighting occurred Sunday evening.
Ali Muse of Mogadishu’s ambulance services says ambulances took 55 wounded people to hospitals Monday morning.
On Friday, insurgents launched multiple attacks on government and African Union positions, sparking the heaviest day of fighting the battle-scarred city has seen in months.
Somalia has not had an effective government since warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
