Somali

Fighting in Somalia's anarchic capital Mogadishu entered a fourth day Thursday, as African Union-backed Somali interim government forces continued street clashes and artillery exchanges with Islamist insurgents, Radio Garowe reports.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has sounded the alarm over the complete absence of safety for journalists in Somalia following the death of veteran journalist, Barkhad Awale Adan.

Awale Adan was killed in the afternoon of Tuesday, 24 August 2010, during gunfire exchange between the Transitional Federal Government and the Islamists group, Al-Shabaab, in Mogadishu, Somalia.

At least six fighters were killed in clashes between Somali militants linked to local warlord Mohamed Said Atom and security forces of the breakaway Puntland state.

On Friday, fighters led by Atom raided a military base near the Galgala mountains which had been lost to Puntland on Wednesday.

Somali pirates on the early morning hours of Thursday released the Maltese flagged merchant vessel MV FRIGIA that they were holding for the past four months, Radio Garowe reports.

The ship was hijacked on 23 March 2010 and the crew held hostage for 128 days.

At least 17 civilians were killed in clashes between Islamist insurgents and Somali government troops in Mogadishu. Somalia's embattled government welcomes the African Union's decision to send more troops to Mogadishu

Ambulance staff collected ten bodies of civilians and 46 wounded following clashes on Tuesday, the head of Mogadishu ambulance services Ali Musa said.

Abdirashid Mohamed Irro, the minister for commerce of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, stated yesterday that his government was aware that militias trained in Southern Somalia have been sent to cause instability in Puntland, a semi-autonomous state in Northeastern Somalia.

African Union head Jean Ping has blasted the international community for neglecting the crisis in Somalia and only seeking to intervene when their interest is threatened by piracy and international terrorism.

Several thousand people in northern Somalia have been displaced in recent weeks by clashes between Somaliland troops and a new rebel group, according to local and UN sources.

Although this morning started with relative serenity, residents in Mogadishu's eastern districts witnessed some of the most intensive confrontations in the past months.

At least 15 people have been killed and 45 others injured in fresh clashes between Somali government forces in Somalia's restive capital, Mogadishu, Radio Garowe reports.

The clashes erupted in rebel-held northern districts of Abdiasis, Shibis, Karan, Daynile and Bondhere, where rebel fighters engaged in fierce gun battle with government forces backed by African Union peacekeepers.

At least 16 people have been killed in fighting between government forces and Islamist insurgents. On Monday east African heads of state pledged 2,000 troops to protect the Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

Most of the victims were insurgents who died in attacks on the shrinking territory controlled by the Somali government in north-eastern Mogadishu.

A group of international observers says the recent concluded presidential election in Somalia's separatist region of Somaliland was free and fair.

The group told reporters in Hargeisa that campaigns and polling were conducted in a peaceful and democratic manner dispute some irregularities such as misuse of public resources during the campaigns.

At least 20 people were killed and dozens others injured in heavy shelling and gunfire exchanged between Somali government forces and insurgents in south and northern Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses said.

At least 23 people, mostly civilians have been killed and over 60 others injured in heavy clashes that rocked Somalia's capital Mogadishu in the last two days.

Civilians caught in the cross fire started vacating their homes in northern districts of Shibis and Abdiasis.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on the world to adopt a new approach to bring peace to Somalia, telling an international conference on the Horn of Africa country that a failure to act now risks expanding the violence to its neighbours and beyond.