SOMALIA: Residents flee from Somali Capital
The Japanese Mainishi Daily News reports:Â Â
Somalia — Residents began fleeing Somalia’s capital early Monday after a night of fighting between a secular militia and gunmen loyal to Mogadishu’s Islamic courts reportedly left 18 people dead and 21 wounded. Witnesses said the fighting began when gunmen working for a militia commander linked to the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counterterrorism opened fire on a gun truck carrying the bodyguards of Islamic Court Union chairman Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed. “I can only remember that five heavily armed gunmen were firing on a vehicle passing in Sii-Sii village of north Mogadishu, then I found myself in this hospital,†said Haliima Abdulle, a mother of six who was wounded in the kiosk she operates. Galaasow Mohamed, a resident of north Mogadishu, said relatives collected at least eight bodies off the streets following the battle, including a two year old child and a pregnant woman. Medical officers at the city’s three hospitals said six people had died of wounds sustained in the fighting. A family of four was reportedly killed when their house was struck by a mortar, other witnesses said. Â
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