Mogadishu suffers further fighting
Somali insurgents roam the streets of Mogadishu
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Sunday, 22, Apr 2007 07:32
Somalia's capital relapsed into another bout of violence and killing this weekend as fighting in the city entered its fifth day.
As many as 200 people have died in the past five days in Mogadishu, which has seen heavy shelling as well as more conventional combat between Islamist insurgents and Somali and Ethiopian forces.
The security situation in Mogadishu has steadily deteriorated since Ethiopian forces intervened to push the Union of Islamic Courts out of power over the new year.
Although deposed, the Islamists have hit back with a campaign of guerrilla resistance, with insurgent mobs roaming the city's streets and terrorising civilians.
The spike in violence seen in the last few days is the latest in a series of surges in violence, two of which occurred in the second half of March.
As a result many residents of the Somali capital have chosen to flee their homes, setting up a potential humanitarian crisis which aid agencies warn could trigger more deaths.
Roughly 300,000 people have been displaced, according to figures compiled by the UN.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says its lorries are delivering 215,000 litres of clean water each day to those who have fled the fighting.