Mogadishu fighting kills 31 in 24 hours

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MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Heavy fighting between Somali government forces backed by Ethiopian troops and insurgents in Mogadishu has killed at least 31 Somalis and wounded 60 in the past 24 hours, a human rights group said on Tuesday.

"The killings were from gunshots and explosions in different parts of the city," the head of Elman Human Rights Group, Sudani Ali Ahmed, told Reuters. "It is totally unacceptable and ... against human rights."

[Click here for Audio report] - Yesterday was one of the bloodiest days in Mogadishu]

In one incident, Ethiopian soldiers opened fire on a bus full of civilians, killing 10 people and wounding several others, Ahmed said. "This was the most ugly attack," Ahmed said. "Six people died instantly and another 14 were wounded, four of whom died."

Ethiopia denied carrying out the bus attack. "This is a baseless accusation, as usual," Ethiopian Information Ministry spokesman Zemedhun Tekle said in Addis Ababa. "We would never open fire on civilians like this."

A European Union security expert and U.N. arms monitors have both said Ethiopia carried out attacks on civilian targets in past anti-insurgent offensives in Mogadishu. At a hospital near the scene of the attack, Deq Hayr Olad, 24, said he remembered the bus being sprayed with bullets, some of which hit him in the left leg.(More...)
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'Picture of the Day' Archive

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