May 11, 2006 — By Mohamed Ali Bile
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – The death toll in Somalia’s worst fighting for a decade rose to more than 120 on Thursday, as rival militias battled for control of the capital with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft guns.
Hundreds of people were wounded as shells crashed into their homes, smashing walls and windows, in the overcrowded northern shanty town of SiiSii. Many more fled their houses to escape the fighting in the failed Horn of Africa state.
Hospitals said at least 27 people were killed as gunmen, manning checkpoints and racing through the streets in pickup trucks mounted with heavy guns, fought on through the night, a practice elders say is forbidden by Somali custom.
That brought the toll in five days of fighting to at least 121. Most of the dead are civilians and the latest fatalities included a pregnant woman and three children whose house was hit by a mortar.
In another incident, a witness said he saw mortars hit a house twice, killing five members of the same family, including two children.
“We are scared of the heavy mortars both sides are firing at innocent people,” said exhausted mother-of-two, Asha Ismail, who spent the morning trying to escape the bombardment.
The fierce fighting is the third round of Mogadishu street battles this year between gunmen allied to Islamic courts and militia from a self-styled anti-terrorist alliance of powerful warlords widely believed to be funded by Washington.
“Siisii has been turned into a battleground. So many houses have been shelled and hundreds of residents are fleeing. It’s a catastrophe,” said Siyad Mohamed, a militia leader linked to the Islamic side. “The death toll will definitely rise.”
A brief truce collapsed on Wednesday.
PROXY BATTLE
Analysts view the fighting as a proxy battle between Islamic militants and Washington, which has long viewed Somalia as a terrorist haven.
Some diplomats and security officials say there are a handful of al-Qaeda-linked militants working around Mogadishu, but Somalis do not generally support hardline views of Islam.
Source: Reuters, May 11, 2006
