Somalia: Heavy fighting rocks Hiron region

Published on Monday 23rd June 2008

Somalia: An attack staged against Ethiopian soldiers in Somalia's Hiiran region has left thirteen government soldiers and three civilians dead.

The attack happened between hiiran's Fanah and Garasiani districts with 1,000 heavily armed fighters detonating remote controlled explosives, destroying two Ethiopian vehicles and killing eight soldiers.

Another five Ethiopian soldiers were killed in bazooka attacks, after which the fighting turned into face to face combat PressTV correspondent reports from the scene.

Civilians from Fanah and Garasiani are now fleeing in droves as the sound of the gunfire and explosions fill the area. Three civilians have already been killed in the violence, which continues to escalate.

Elsewhere in South Mogadishu six houses have been destroyed by a gunfire exchange between insurgents and Ethiopian soldiers.

A distraught father told the Press TV correspondent that as a result of Ethiopian attacks, his five children died in the rubble of their collapsed house. They were taken to Dayniile hospital but could not be saved.

A mother and three of her children have also been killed by the Ethiopian attacks. A twelve month old baby is the family's only survivor.

Innocent civilians caught up in the violence say that Ethiopian soldiers know they are attacking civilian areas but persist in doing so, causing the death of so many.