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Mogadishu rocked by fierce battle | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
At least 10 people have been killed and 50 injured during the fiercest fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu since a new president was elected last month. | |
The battle focused on the south of the city, with rebels firing mortars at the presidential palace and a base for African Union and government troops. | |
It came as Eritrea said all foreign troops must leave Somalia if national reconciliation was to be achieved. | |
Meanwhile Burundi vowed to send more peacekeepers to the AU mission. | |
Burundian Defence Minister Lt Gen Germain Niyoyankana told Radio France Internationale they planned to reinforce their presence with a battalion of 850 men as soon as possible. | Burundian Defence Minister Lt Gen Germain Niyoyankana told Radio France Internationale they planned to reinforce their presence with a battalion of 850 men as soon as possible. |
The minister said his government would not be deterred by Sunday's suicide attack - claimed by the radical al-Shabab group - which left 11 Burundian peacekeepers dead at a barracks in Mogadishu. | |
A mother and her baby died after a shell landed on their house, their flesh was so mangled we did not know what to carry Abdirizak MohamedMogadishu resident class="" href="/1/hi/world/africa/7861853.stm">Somali president faces tough task In Tuesday's fighting insurgents fired volleys of mortar bombs at the heavily-guarded hilltop presidential palace in the Wardhigley district of Mogadishu. | |
The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in the capital says the newly-elected President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was understood to be at home at the time. | |
Our correspondent says it is the fiercest fighting since the moderate Islamist leader was elected late last month under a UN-brokered peace deal. | |
Insurgents also bombarded a base for AU and government troops in the Hodan district, while untargeted mortars rained down on the nearby Howlwadag district. | |
But our correspondent adds it was civilians as usual who bore the brunt of the battle, during which heavy machine gun fire was exchanged. | |
One resident, Abdirizak Mohamed, told Reuters news agency: "A mother and her baby died after a shell landed on their house. Their flesh was so mangled we did not know what to carry." | |
'End invasion' | 'End invasion' |
No-one has yet claimed responsibility, says our correspondent, but suspicion fell on al-Shabab and the Islamic Party, a coalition of four insurgent Islamist groups. | |
Al-Shabab vowed to focus attacks on the AU after Ethiopian troops leftMeanwhile the Eritrean foreign ministry said in its statement: "Putting an end to invasion and external interference is a precondition for the realisation of the Somali people's aspirations to reconstitute their nation. | |
"It is equally imperative to get rid of any force deployed in Somalia under the pretext of 'peacekeeping mission'." | "It is equally imperative to get rid of any force deployed in Somalia under the pretext of 'peacekeeping mission'." |
Several Somali Islamist groups have operated out of Eritrea since they were ousted from Mogadishu after Ethiopian troops went in just over two years ago. | Several Somali Islamist groups have operated out of Eritrea since they were ousted from Mogadishu after Ethiopian troops went in just over two years ago. |
Ethiopian troops, which had been in the country since 2006 to support Somalia's fragile transitional government, pulled out at the end of January. | |
The AU's 3,400-force of Burundian and Ugandan peacekeepers - deployed since 2007 - are now the only foreign troops in the Somali capital. | The AU's 3,400-force of Burundian and Ugandan peacekeepers - deployed since 2007 - are now the only foreign troops in the Somali capital. |
Somalia has not had a functioning national government since 1991. | Somalia has not had a functioning national government since 1991. |
Some three million people - half the population - need food aid after years of fighting. | Some three million people - half the population - need food aid after years of fighting. |