18 Aug 2009
Heavy fighting between Somali government forces and insurgents leaves more than six people dead and another 16 injured in northern Mogadishu.

The clashes broke out late on August 17, when the two sides exchanged heavy mortar fire, which killed at least three civilians in the districts of Yakhshiid and Suuq-Bacaad.

The injured civilians were rushed to a local hospital, witnesses told Press TV correspondent in Mogadishu.

In the early hours of the same day, unidentified gunmen attacked a United Nations World Food Program (WFP) compound in the northwestern region of Bakool.

Aid workers have been the targets of assassinations and kidnappings in Somalia, prompting a large number of aid groups to cease operations in the Horn of Africa country, where rival militias control most of the country.

Insurgent attacks continue to claim lives in Somalia, even after the election of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who futilely attempted to patch up the widely divided factions to put an end to internal armed conflict in the country.
presstv