allAfrica.com * Seven Killed in Mogadishu After Insurgents Target Military Facilities Garowe Online (Garowe) NEWS 19 June 2008 Posted to the web 20 June 2008 Somali insurgents attacked three military facilities in the national capital Mogadishu Thursday afternoon, sparking deadly battles with government forces that killed at least 7 people, witnesses said. Somali and Ethiopian government forces stationed at the ex-ministry of defense, the Shirkole and the Gulwade facilities were attacked by insurgents using rocket launchers and heavy machineguns. Government forces responded to the attacks by launching artillery shells in surrounding neighborhoods of Hodan district in Mogadishu, with confirmed reports saying that several civilians died when shells hit their homes. In all, 15 people have been wounded in this afternoon's renewed violence. A spokesman for the Islamic Courts, Abdirahim Isse Addow, told reporters that 10 soldiers were killed in the attacks. On the insurgent side, Mr. Addow admitted that two rebel fighters died and three others were wounded. There was no official response from the Somali government or its Ethiopian military allies. Insurgent attacks have increased since June 9, when the United Nations announced that a ceasefire agreement has been signed between the Somali transitional government and the opposition Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia. An Islamist hardliner, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, rejected the peace deal from his exiled home in Eritrea, while al Shabaab militants have vowed to continue the guerrilla war until Ethiopian troops withdraw from Somalia. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2008 Garowe Online. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quantcast