Deadly fighting hits Somali capital

Deadly fighting hits Somali capital

Fighting between soldiers from Somalia's UN-backed government and al-Shabab fighters in the capital Mogadishu have killed at least eight and injured 18 more, according to a medical official.

Sunday's deadly gun battle erupted less than 24 hours after heavy shelling at Mogadishu's Bakara market killed at least seven people.
Somalia has experienced an escalation in fighting over the past month, with al-Shabab, an anti-government group, trying to overrun the weak government of Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
The weekend violence coincides with the Somali president's return to Mogadishu from New York, where he participated in the UN General Assembly last week.
Somalia has not had a fully functioning government in almost 20 years.
Sharif's government controls only a few parts of the country, with al-Shabab and other armed opposition groups controlling most of the southern and central parts.
Somalia has been racked by violence for more than two decades, and hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes, creating one of the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
PHOTO CAPTION
A tank of the African Union Mission in Somalia.
Al-Jazeera

Related Articles