Somalia, April 28: At least 14 civilians were killed Tuesday during a prolonged battle between government soldiers and Islamic insurgents that followed a separate suicide car bomb attack in Somalia’s capital, officials and a witness said.
Four people were wounded, including two African Union troops, in the suicide attack outside an AU base earlier Tuesday.
After the attack, Islamic insurgents attacked government soldiers and Islamic militiamen allied to the government as they moved between bases in southern Mogadishu.
The clash sparked a four-hour battle. Ali Araf, a tailor in the area, said he counted the bodies of eight people. Araf also said on phone that he was slightly wounded during the battle in which both sides pounded each other with mortars.
Ali Muse, the head of Mogadishu’s ambulance service, said his group had counted six other bodies and took about 40 wounded people to hospitals.
—Agencies