20110225
reuters

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali forces pushed deeper into rebel-controlled pockets of Mogadishu, the president said on Friday, as the beleaguered government sustained its offensive against insurgents in the city and in southern Somalia.

In the border town of Balad Hawa, a few kilometres from Kenya, residents reported gun battles and volleys of artillery fire between government-allied militia and al Shabaab militants.

Warning against a fresh wave of suicide attacks, President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's government has said it will keep up its attack until the hardline Islamists are routed from the capital.

"Our forces have taken more positions today," Ahmed told a news conference. It was not possible to get al Shabaab comment.

Militants have waged a four-year insurgency against the largely ineffective U.N.-backed government and control large chunks of southern and central Somalia. Counter-terrorism experts say the lawless nation is a haven for foreign jihadists.

In the past few weeks, Somali forces have clawed back parts of Mogadishu and now control 70 percent of the city, the government says.

Deputy military commander General Abdikariin Dhagabadan said militants from al Shabaab, which Washington says is al Qaeda's proxy in the Horn of Africa nation, had retreated into the Bakara market, a rebel stronghold.

"We see government forces advancing towards al Shabaab bases but we don't know who is winning. All I can say is that this is the worst fighting for months in our district," said 54-year old resident Hawa Said.

Somali troops backed by government-friendly militia have also launched operations in several towns across central and southern Somalia including the al Shabaab-controlled border town of Balad Hawa, a few kilometres from both Kenya and Ethiopia.