SOMALIA: 18 lives lost in Somalia fighting
Posted by warvictims on September 23, 2008
by Press TV
Heavy fighting between the Union of the Islamic Courts and a militia group has left 18 people dead in the southeast of Somalia.
At least 20 people were also injured after UIC forces attacked an armed group loyal to the former defense minister at the city of Ceel Waaq (El Wak) in the Gedo region, eyewitnesses told Press TV correspondent on Monday.
A regional clan leader, Barre Adan Shire Hiirale, was among the casualties of the militant group.
The civil war in Somalia, which began in 1991 after the ousting of former dictator Siad Barre, has cost thousands of civilian lives. Thousands more have fled the Horn of Africa country considered to be one of the most unstable in the world.
Heavily armed pirates operate off the coast and 57 ships have been attacked this year alone, mostly in the Gulf of Aden. The country is in the grip of corruption, violence and general lawlessness under the ineffectual Transitional Federal Government.
Source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=70303§ionid=351020501
