Mogadishu - A few days of relative calm were shattered in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Friday when fresh clashes broke out between Islamist insurgents and government forces, killing at least four people, including a prominent journalist. Witnesses said that government forces attacked insurgent positions in three different locations in north Mogadishu and that the warring parties exchanged mortar fire.
"Two people, including a child, died and others were injured after a shell landed in their home," Adder Hussein, a resident in Holwadaag district, told the German Press Agency dpa. "I can still hear gunfire."
Another witness said he saw the body of a dead government soldier lying in the street, while casualties were streaming into hospitals.
"We have admitted 12 wounded since this morning, but the casualties keep coming hour by hour," Dahir Dhere, deputy director of Medina Hospital, told dpa.
The Somali Journalists' Rights Agency (SOJRA) said that local journalist Abdirsaak Warsame Mohamed, who worked for Radio Shabelle, was killed in the crossfire.
Insurgent groups al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam launched an offensive two weeks ago in an attempt to push out the weak government of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a moderate Islamist who once worked alongside the insurgents.
Almost 200 people, many of them civilians, have died and over 500 have been injured since the fighting began. According to the UN, over 45,000 people have fled Mogadishu in the same period.
Sheik Sharif's government, propped up by 4,300 African Union peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi, controls only small sections of Mogadishu, while the insurgents hold sway across much of Southern and Central Somalia.
The insurgents have gained territory in the push, taking over the strategic town of Jowhar, which links Mogadishu to Central Somalia.
Sheikh Sharif has implemented sharia, or Islamic law, and has been attempting to build bridges with the warring groups. He received a boost on Sunday when a leader of a faction of Hizbul Islam joined the government.
However, the other insurgents say they will fight on because Sheikh Sharif, who came to power earlier this year as part of a UN-backed peace process, is too close to the West.
The insurgency, which came after Ethiopian forces invaded in late 2006 to kick out the Islamic Courts Union, has claimed the lives of over 17,000 people, mainly civilians.
Ethiopia pulled out in January 2009, but in recent days there have been reports that its troops have once again crossed the Somali border.
Eritrea has also been accused of involvement in the conflict through arming the insurgent groups.
The Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) - a regional grouping of Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and Djibouti - on Wednesday called on the UN to impose sanctions on Eritrea.
Eritrea suspended its membership of IGAD in 2007 after a disagreement with Ethiopia over Somalia.
Somalia has been embroiled in chaos since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, and is widely regarded as a failed state.
