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Bodies of soldiers paraded in Somalia

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published March 22, 2007

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Masked gunmen dragged slain soldiers through the streets of Somalia's capital Wednesday, then set the bodies on fire as jeering crowds threw rocks and kicked the dead after a fierce battle in a neighborhood loyal to Islamic insurgents.

At least 16 people were reported killed and dozens were wounded in the hourslong firefight, which was some of the heaviest fighting in Mogadishu since a radical Muslim militia was driven from the city in December after six months in power.

Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991, when clan-based warlords ousted a longtime dictator and then began fighting among themselves.

President Abdullahi Yusuf's administration was set up with U.N. help, but it has failed to assert control across the country. The African Union has deployed a small peacekeeping force to defend the government, but daily violence grips Mogadishu.

An Associated Press photographer on Wednesday saw six corpses - all soldiers for Yusuf's interim government or its Ethiopian allies - burned and mutilated while masked men shouted "God is great!" Women in head scarves and flowing dresses pounded one charred body with rocks.

A similar scene in Mogadishu grabbed the world's attention in 1993 when militiamen shot down a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter during an attempt to capture a warlord and dragged around dead American soldiers. The Clinton administration pulled out U.S. troops, and U.N. peacekeepers soon followed suit, leaving Somalia to years of anarchy.

Ahmed Mohamed Botaan, a clan elder in the neighborhood where the battle erupted, said he counted 16 bodies, seven of which were government soldiers. Mogadishu's three hospitals reported at least seven dead and 36 wounded.

The fighting began when Somali and Ethiopian soldiers entered the insurgent stronghold in southern Mogadishu seeking to consolidate the government's control. Hundreds of masked gunmen were waiting.

An insurgent group known as the Popular Resistance Movement in the Land of the Two Migrations, which is linked to the ousted Council of Islamic Courts, said it was the target of the government offensive but said on its Web site that fighters repulsed the attack.

The U.S. ambassador to Kenya, Michael Ranneberger, who also represents American interests in Somalia, condemned the bloodshed but said Washington believes things are better in Somalia.

"On balance we do feel that the situation in Somalia is moving forward in a generally positive way," Ranneberger said.

He said that the arrival of Ugandan peacekeepers, the first of an African Union force expected eventually to total 8,000, should help government forces maintain security and disarm militants. A reconciliation conference aimed at soothing Somalia's clan divisions also is being planned.

Ranneberger blamed recent antigovernment violence on a variety of groups, including former Islamist fighters, warlords attempting to regain control and criminal gangs. "It's a bit of an insecurity soup," he said.

He accused al-Qaida operatives of fueling some of the chaos.

[Last modified March 22, 2007, 02:14:21]