Somali government forces on Friday carried out a major attack on Islamic militants who had taken control of parts of the capital Mogadishu, killing at least five people, media reports say.
Government forces and militant Islamic rebels from the hardline al-Shabab and Hisbul-Islam groups have been fighting for 10 days in Mogadishu. More than 100 people have been killed, and over 30,000 are believed to be displaced.
The BBC and The Associated Press, citing accounts from residents and officials, reported that at least seven people, including a journalist from independent radio station Shabelle, were killed in Friday's skirmishes. Reuters and Al-Jazeera put the death toll at at least five.
"This is a large military offensive against violent people," military spokesman Farhan Mahdi Mohamed told Agence France-Presse. "The government will sweep them out of the capital and the fighting will continue until that happens."
Lt. Yusuf Osman Dumal, the government's commander-in-chief, said the fighting began when Islamists attacked government positions, but residents said the government used the temporary respite to reinforce and re-equip the troops under its control and it appeared to be a planned government offensive.
Resident Abdi Haji said hundreds of government troops had attacked positions held by Islamist fighters in the south and north of the Somali capital. He said there was heavy shelling around Wadnaha road, which the government lost to Islamist fighters earlier this month. Wadnaha connects the north and south of the city and is one of the four major roads in Mogadishu.
The government claimed it had taken back control of three areas of the capital — Tarbunka, Bakara and Howlwadag — since fighting began Friday. The rebels deny this account.
The government began the offensive because it said it was impossible to negotiate with the militants.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991, when the former dictator Siad Barre was overthrown by warlords. A Western-backed transitional government was formed in 2004, but failed to assert control.
A unity government elected Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, considered a moderate, as president in January following UN-sponsored peace talks between the transitional government and Islamic militants.
Western governments fear Somalia may become a safe zone for terrorists, particularly since Osama bin Laden has declared his support for the domestic Islamists. The U.S. says al-Shabab is harbouring al-Qaeda-linked terrorists accused of blowing up the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
Source: The Associated Press
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