At least 5 killed in raid by Somalia's Islamic militants
Witnesses say insurgents have briefly overrun a police station after three hours of fighting killed at least five people, just one day after the Somali prime minister began new peace efforts. The insurgent attack is the latest brazen move by fighters linked to an Islamic extremist group that was driven out in December 2006 by Somalia's Western-backed government and its Ethiopian allies. "I saw the bodies," says Mogadishu resident Nuradin Haji Madar, adding that the victims appear to be three officers, one insurgent and a civilian. She says the battle involved rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. In recent weeks, the insurgents have taken over government positions, marched into towns and even released prisoners from jail before retreating. On Sunday, Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein met with elders of the highly influential Hawiye clan in a new bid to push reconciliation between government and insurgents. Government and clan officials said the meeting was preliminary and would continue this week. Somalia has been ravaged by violence and anarchy since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on one another. The current government -- formed with U.N. help in 2004 -- has struggled to assert any real control. Last week, Islamic militants here welcomed being added to the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations, saying they only wished the designation had come sooner. |
