[Mogadishu] Hundreds of Somalis are fleeing southern parts of the capital Mogadishu because of violence that has gripped the area, leaving dozens dead since the beginning of the week.
Some reports suggest as many as 200 civilians have been either killed or wounded in the past three days.
Clashes intensified last week after a plane carrying supplies for African Union (AU) peacekeepers defied a ban imposed by Islamists and landed in the airport, provoking mortar fire from the rebels.
Many civilians have been caught in the line of fire between Islamists and AU troops stationed in the war-torn country.
Nineteen civilians were killed on Tuesday night when Islamists attacked African peacekeepers in the capital. Of the dead, five were killed when a mortar landed in front of store in which they hoped to hide from the bullets. A five-year-old girl reportedly died from shock after mortar shells were fired close by in the Howlwadaag district.
Somali troops shelled areas including the main Bakara market and Hodan district.
“Two mortars hit a neighboring house and killed six people,” resident Hamdi Yousuf told The Media Line.
Two men were shot dead by the government troops when they searched in houses nearby. Soldiers also entered the building of the Elman Human Rights organization. Soldiers smashed some of the equipment on the premises, according to Elman’s deputy chairman, ‘Ali Yasin ‘Ali Fadha.
Some 1,600 Ugandan troops and 800 Burundian soldiers are positioned as peacekeepers at Mogadishu airport, but their numbers fall short of the 8,000 planned to be stationed in Somalia.
The country has not had a stable government since 1991.
Islamists briefly took over the capital and other areas in the center and south of the country for several months in 2006 before they were ousted by Somali and Ethiopian armed forces in early 2007.
The Islamist rebels have since regrouped and are waging almost daily attacks on Somali forces, Ethiopian troops, peacekeepers, foreign aid workers and civilians.
They want to drive out the Ethiopian forces and topple the interim government.
The airport closure imposed last week by the Islamists is compounding the supply of much-needed humanitarian aid to Somalia, especially since sea routes to the country have also become dangerous to use because of an increasing plague of piracy.
There are also many cases of foreigners and local officials being kidnapped for ransom.