At least three people have been killed and nearly four others
were wounded overnight when a strayed artillery shell hit their
homes in Beledweyn, the provincial capital of Hiran in central
Somalia, residents in the region said Tuesday.
"Three people from a single family, including a young child,
were killed when their house was hit by a shell fired from an
Ethiopian army base on the outskirts of the city (Beledweyn)," Omar
Warey, a resident of Beledweyn, told Xinhua by phone. "Some four
others wounded were taken to the hospital."
Somali government officials neither confirmed nor denied the
reports of the casualties but the government-appointed District
Commissioner of Beledweyn, Ahmed Gobey Awale, told local radio
Tuesday that the Ethiopian troops based in the city fired shells in
response to an attack against them, saying he was not aware of any
civilian casualties from the shells.
Meanwhile, heavy fighting erupted overnight in Al-barakah and
Shirkole neighborhoods in Hodon district of the capital, Mogadishu,
between suspected Islamist insurgents and Somali and Ethiopian
troops stationed in the area.
There are no reports of any casualties, but residents in the
area said heavy weaponry were used by both sides and the sound of
the explosions were very loud.
"The fighting started close to midnight," said Yahya Farah, a
resident in Shirkole neighborhood. "And continued for nearly thirty
minutes."
Somali government officials were not immediately available for
comment on the latest incidents but government officials often
accuse Islamists insurgents for the upsurge in violence in the
restive Somali capital since late last April when it declared
victory over clan and Islamist groups opposed to the presence of
Ethiopian troops in Somalia.
The insurgent groups have been waging an Iraqi-style guerrilla
war targeting Somali government officials and security forces and
Ethiopian and African Union (AU) peacekeeping troops in Somalia,
particularly in Mogadishu where indefinite dusk to dawn curfew has
been enforced for more than one month.
A National Reconciliation Conference is going on in the city but
was boycotted by major opposition groups who said the talks do not
address the real issues and are being held "under Ethiopian
occupation of Somalia" despite the government's repeated calls for
them to attend.
A number of mortars attack were targeted at the venue of the
conference since it was officially opened on July 15. Several
people including children were killed in neighborhoods around the
conference site as a result of the shells fired by alleged
insurgents.
Somali transitional government, formed in 2004 in the Kenyan
capital Nairobi, has been struggling to establish its authority in
the capital known for lawlessness after the former government was
overthrown in 1991 by warlords who carved the Horn of Africa nation
into fiefdoms.
(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2007)
