July 2001 Africa News Headlines

Tuesday, July 17, 2001 - Web posted at 10:36:03 GMT

Somali unrest claims 72 lives

MOGADISHU - Fighting between government troops and militias brought down a hail of shellfire yesterday on the south of the Somali capital, where witnesses and other sources said 72 people have died in five days.

After a night of relative calm, uniformed government soldiers and fighters loyal to two prominent warlords, Hussein Mohamed Aidid, resumed a battle that had been halted by nightfall on Sunday.

The use of modified anti-aircraft weapons and high-velocity machine guns has led the civilian population of the southwestern Medina district to bear the brunt of the violence.

Medical and militia sources say about 50 civilians have been killed in various bouts of fighting since Thursday.

Because of the long range of the weapons involved, many of these casualties occurred a few kilometres (miles) from the epicentre of the latest clashes in the southwest of the capital.

"It is better to remain in your house whether you die or not because no one can predict where the other skirmishes can take place," said Maryan Ahmed Abdi, a resident of the northern Suuqbad neighbourhood, where rival militias clashed on Thursday and Friday, when at least 20 people were killed.

"When you flee your house all your belongings would be stolen," she added.

While the earlier hostilities pitted fighters of rival warlords against each other, the battle raging in Medina since Sunday involved fighters loyal to the Transitional National Government (TNG), whose legitimacy is rejected by the majority of Somalia's warlords.

- Nampa-Sapa-AFP

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