From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Thu Oct 02 2008 - 09:54:53 EDT
16 Somalis killed in Bakara clashes
Thu, 02 Oct 2008 03:14:38 GMT
Somalia's Bakara Market
At least 16 civilians have been killed in fierce clashes between Somali soldiers and militants in south Mogadishu's Bakara market.
More than 32 other civilians were transferred to the Medina Hospital, four of whom died of the wounds sustained during the fighting, medical sources said on Wednesday.
Local businessmen told Press TV that at least 22 shops had also been set ablaze.
Meanwhile, at least 8 civilians were killed and 35 others injured in clashes that erupted between Somali soldiers backed by Ethiopian troops and armed militants from Dayniile Mursade Hawiye clan in the Dayniile District of Mogadishu.
Government troops took control of the Dayniile District after hours of battle and nearly 40 residents were taken to Ethiopian bases.
Fighting in the Horn of Africa nation has claimed the lives of thousands of civilians and displaced nearly a million.
Somali rebels threaten to burn MV Faina
Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:54:35 GMT
Hijacked Ukrainian ship MV Faina
Somali rebels have threatened they will urge pirates holding a Ukrainian ship carrying military hardware to burn the cargo and the vessel.
The pirates have insisted on being paid USD 20 million to release the cargo and the 21 crew members of the MV Faina's which is blockaded by US warships and other navies off Somalia's Indian Ocean coast.
"If they do not get the money they are demanding, we call on them to either burn down the ship and its arms or sink it," Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, a spokesman for the al-Shabaab movement, said on Thursday.
The spokesman, however, denied any link to the pirates who seized the Belize-flagged freighter last week as it was bound for Mombasa in Kenya.
"It is a crime to take commercial ships," stressed Robow whose al-Shabaab group almost uprooted piracy when it gained control of southern Somalia last year.
He, however, stressed the Ukrainian vessel was an exception as it was carrying arms for 'the enemy', claiming the 33 Soviet-era T72 battle tanks and other military hardware on the ship belonged to Ethiopian forces, backing the embattled Somali government which hardly has control beyond Mogadishu.
The remarks follow earlier claims by the pirates that the arms were destined for Sudan. The MV Faina's Ukrainian owners and the Kenyan government, however, said the tanks were being shipped to Kenya.
Despite a vow by the US Navy to prevent the pirates from looting the arms, Robow said his movement would not mind getting hold of them to boost its campaign against the army and foreign military forces in Somalia.
"The Ukrainian ship is loaded with military hardware that is very important .and it would have changed the war in Somalia if that military shipment falls in our hands," he said.
Somali pirates, base in the autonomous state of Puntland in the north, are said to number more than 1,000, mostly former coastguards, who storm foreign vessels and take their crew hostage in return for considerable ransoms.
A new report released by London-based think tank Chatham House estimates the total ransom payments for 2008 to range between 18-30 million dollars.
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----