At least two killed in renewed Somalia violence

Mogadishu, Apr 18: At least two people have been killed in renewed clashes in Mogadishu between Ethiopian troops and Somali insurgents, residents said today.

Heavy shelling rocked the southern region of the Somali capital the last night, and some mortars fell close to the presidential palace.

''Two people have been killed and four wounded,'' a local reporter told Reuters.

A spokesman for the city's dominant Hawiye clan said a ceasefire between the insurgents and Ethiopian troops helping the transitional government control the anarchic city was still in place.

''Until the forces are separated, this kind of thing will keep happening,'' said Ahmed Diriye Diriye, spokesman for the Hawiye clan, adding that the truce was still intact.

The insurgents are drawn from the Hawiye and the Islamist movement, formerly known as the Somalia Council of Islamic Courts.

One Mogadishu resident told Reuters that Tuesday's fighting was as intense as clashes between March 29 and April 1 which killed 1,000 people and sent thousands fleeing.

''The fighting last night was as bad as the four days' war, the only thing missing was the helicopter gunships but the intensity of shelling was the same,'' the resident, who did not want to be named, told Reuters.

''I and my friend spent the night at the mosque, we could not trust our homes.''

Reuters