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Somalia: Islamist rebels capture police headquarters in Mogadishu
Friday, 09 May 2008
Somalia: Police fortified their headquarters in the heart of the government's stronghold in Mogadishu on Friday, the morning after Islamist fighters briefly seized the building in a bold and deadly attack.
The insurgents had tried many times to attack the capital's heavily guarded K4 district, but Thursday night's raid was their first major success.

Police officer Dalmar Mohamed Hassan said two police officers and five insurgents died in the attack. Three other insurgents were captured, he said. Witnesses said two government soldiers and two civilians also were killed in the fighting.

"We are fortifying our defensive positions to be ready for other attacks," Hassan told The Associated Press outside the police headquarters. The burned out hulks of two vehicles set ablaze in the fighting remained outside. Using the guerrilla tactics that have long kept their insurgency alive, the Islamist fighters seized the police headquarters, then withdrew from it.

In other violence on Wednesday, insurgents attacked Ethiopian military convoys in two rural areas of this Horn of Africa nation, and the soldiers responded by opening fire on civilians in both towns, killing at least 17 villagers total, according to witness accounts.

International human rights groups have accused Ethiopian troops of targeting civilians out of frustration over their failure to halt insurgents who have adopted Iraq-style tactics, such as roadside bombs and occasional suicide attacks.

It was not known how many Ethiopians died in the militant attacks, and the witness accounts could not be verified by officials. Ethiopia, which sent troops into Somalia last year to back up soldiers fighting Islamic insurgents, does not make public its military fatalities, but the insurgents said one of their regional commanders was killed.

Somalia's recent upsurge in violence comes a week after U.S. fighter jets bombed the house of the alleged al-Qaida leader in Somalia, killing him and 24 others, mostly civilians in nearby buildings, according to local elders. Islamist fighters have vowed to avenge the death of Hashi Aden Ayro, commander of the powerful al-Shabab militia that is leading the Islamist insurgency in Somalia.

Elsewhere on Wednesday, a roadside bomb killed three Somali soldiers, a military officer said, and an attack on a World Food Program convoy killed a driver, U.N. officials said.

In Mogadishu on Thursday, insurgents seized the police headquarters in the K4 district, yelling "God is great," witnesses said. They also seized and set fire to a police pickup truck equipped with a submachine gun. Soon afterward, an explosion rocked Makalal Mukrama Road outside the building, sending plumes of black smoke into the night air, witnesses said.

"The fighting was hideous, terrifying," said resident Hawa Abdi. The gunfire was so heavy that "I thought it would smash the walls of my concrete home," AP report said.

Resident Elmi Osman said bullets crashed through the window of the house where he lives, killing his aunt and a nephew.

Street vendor Abisaq Mohamed said he saw the bodies of two police officers on Makalal Mukrama Road. He also reported seeing two government soldiers killed, and one insurgent being carried away. The attackers dispersed several hours later, witnesses said.

Islamist spokesman Abdirahim Issa Adow told The Associated Press that his fighters killed eight policemen. He said one Islamist fighter died and two were wounded in the attack.

He also said the Islamists fired mortars into two Ethiopian military bases in the capital — a claim that could not be verified.
 
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