SOMALIA: Mogadishu rocked by "worst shelling yet"

SOMALIA: Mogadishu rocked by "worst shelling yet"

NAIROBI, 23 September 2008 (IRIN) - At least 100 people were killed and
thousands fled their homes in the "worst fighting" to hit Mogadishu in
recent months, locals told IRIN.

The fighting on 22 September pitted Ethiopian troops, African Union
peacekeeping troops (AMISOM) and Transitional Federal Government (TFG)
forces against insurgents. More than 200 people were reportedly wounded,
hospital sources said.

"We are still today [23 September] collecting bodies and body parts from the
market and the area around it," Ali Mohamed Siad, chairman of the Bakara
market traders, told IRIN. "Blood and body parts are everywhere."

The fighting was concentrated around the large market - which has in the
past been the scene of fierce fighting between Ethiopian-backed government
forces and insurgents.

"The market and the surrounding neighbourhoods experienced the worst
shelling yet," Siad added.

He said the shelling by Ethiopian, AMISOM and TFG forces began when the
market was full of shoppers getting ready for the Eid festivities, to mark
the end of Ramadan next week.

Up to 82 people have so far been confirmed dead and 157 injured in the
market area alone, Siad added. The market was now closed.

Ali Sheikh Yassin, acting chairman of the Mogadishu-based Elman Human Rights
Organisation, told IRIN the market had been shelled from three different
directions. "It was obvious the market was deliberately targeted," he said.

The shelling began after Islamic insurgents launched simultaneous attacks on
the two main AMISOM bases at K4 and the airport, said a local journalist.

But AMISOM spokesman Barigye Bahoko told IRIN the AU peacekeepers were not
involved in the shelling. "We are absolutely not responsible for the
shelling," he said. "Responsibility should be on those who attack our
defensive positions."

Local sources said the fighting and shelling were mostly concentrated in the
districts of Hodan and Hawl Wadag in south Mogadishu.

Many families are still trying to get out, while others have begun burying
the dead and taking the injured to hospital.

A medical source told IRIN the two main hospitals, Madina in the south and
Keysaney in the north, were seeing more injured than at any time in the
recent past.

"As of last night 195 injured were brought to Madina and about 30 to
Keysaney," the source said. Roughly 46 people died in the hospitals, "but
that is only those who made it to hospitals".

Meanwhile, talks to end the conflict, which have going on in Djibouti
between representatives of the government and a faction of an Eritrea-based
opposition alliance, the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia, led by
Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, again failed to agree a ceasefire.

"The main stumbling block is the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces," said a
civil society activist at the talks.

He said the TFG seemed to be trying to find a way for a less hurried
withdrawal, while the Alliance was insisting on a 30-day withdrawal.

The parties agreed to resume talks in 15 days to hammer out a ceasefire
agreement.