Sunday, June 08, 2008
The clashes began soon after dawn when the soldiers searched homes around Bakara market for weapons and Islamic insurgents attacked, said Sharif Sheik Muhidin, an official of the Mogadishu Traders' Union.
Both sides exchanged gunfire and mortar fire in and around the market, he said.
It was not clear if there were any fatalities among the combatants.
Dr. Dahir Dhere of Medina Hospital said that 44 civilians wounded in the clashes had been admitted to his hospital.
Efforts to reach government officials were unsuccessful.
Sunday's searches go against an agreement three months ago under which the government agreed to pull out its soldiers and the merchants said they would stop Islamic insurgents using the market as a base.
Under the agreement the merchants were allowed to have their own private security. In the past the merchants had complained that the soldiers had robbed them on several occasions while searching for weapons in the market.
Somalia has been in anarchy since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on one another. A transitional government was formed in 2004 but remains fragile.
Islamic insurgents remain a disruptive presence and a continuing threat to Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf's government. Thousands of civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands forced from their homes.
Source: AP, June 08, 2008