Ugandans targeted in Somalia
Mogadishu has suffered regular violence in 2007
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Saturday, 17, Nov 2007 04:34
African Union (AU) forces have come under attack in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, days after a rebel leader called for peacekeepers to be targeted.
A 90-minute gunbattle was fought in Mogadishu's K-4 neighbourhood after the dawn raid, leaving one insurgent dead.
No soldiers were hurt but observers say the raid, coming just three days after rebel leader Aden Hashi Ayro called for attacks on AU peacekeeping forces, is likely to be the first of several.
AU spokesperson Paddy Ankunda said machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades were used in the attack, forcing the peacekeepers to defend themselves.
In a separate development, two people were killed when a coach was hit by a roadside bomb elsewhere in the city.
The AU soldiers are all drawn from the 1,600 vanguard for a delayed force eventually due to total 8,000.
Logistical and political difficulties have seen the troop pledge not yet met, despite the ongoing poor security situation in Somalia.
The radical Union of Islamic Courts was ousted from power in heavy fighting after a military intervention from Ethiopian troops in December 2006, but the Islamists have lived up to their promises of maintaining an insurgency.
Low-level fighting has regularly broken out in Mogadishu. The Elman Peace and Human Rights Organisation claims 469 civilians have been killed in fighting since the start of October, the Reuters news agency reports.
Last month's resignation of prime minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi, who has been blamed for not tackling the Islamists, was viewed as being a step backwards for the weak transitional government.