Heavy fighting broke out in a densely packed slum area of the Somali capital overnight, sending thousands of residents fleeing, residents said on Wednesday.
The clashes erupted in Dharkeynley in south-west Mogadishu around 10am when Somali government forces attacked checkpoints and a police station manned by Islamist rebels.
Terrified residents in the district, largely spared the fighting in recent years, packed whatever they could strap to their backs or load on carts and started flooding out of Dharkeynley.
Many headed south in the direction of Afgooye, where thousands of civilians had fled during the two year of insurgency against the Ethiopian troops.
Residents said that fighting has erupted at midnight in Dharkeynley district in Mogadishu again after the Islamist forces launched heavy attack on the government soldiers who took over Dharkeynley district on Tuesday’s fighting.
The two sides have used heavy weapons in the fighting and AMISOM troops in Mogadishu have reportedly took part in the fighting at the side of shelling.
No causalities have been reported on the latest fighting, but Tuesday’s fighting has killed at least 10 people and injured about 70, mostly civilians, in the capital Mogadishu.
Dharkeynley has been one of the rare calm districts of Mogadishu in recent years during the country’s successive cycles of violence. Until now, the area has sheltered many people displaced from dangerous areas.
Separately, sporadic fighting is continuing in Yaqshid district in north Mogadishu where a rebel group Hizbul Islam and government soldiers have been fighting for the last two weeks.
Many residents have also fled from Yaqshid district and joined many civilians who had already left the area.
Source: Mareeg.com
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