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Civilians caught in battle in capital

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published March 30, 2007

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA - Somali troops and their Ethiopian allies pounded insurgent positions in the capital with bombs and tank shells Thursday, sending residents fleeing a surge in fighting that killed at least 10 people and wounded 50. The military operation was the beginning of a three-day push to restore order in Mogadishu as Ethiopian troops who helped oust an Islamic militia withdraw, said Mohamed Mohamud Husein, spokesman for the Somali president. At least six people believed to be civilians were killed in a gunbattle between Ethiopian troops and insurgents, residents said. Bloodied civilians were seen running through the streets. Fifty wounded people were being treated at Mogadishu's Medina Hospital, said Sheikh Don Salad Ilmi, the hospital's director. Despite near daily attacks from fighters believed to be the remnants of the Islamic militia, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said his country had successfully accomplished its mission in Somalia. He said extremists were no longer a "clear and present danger" to Ethiopia, a predominantly Christian country that had feared the rise of a neighboring Islamic state.

Leader freed amid terror accusations

HARARE, ZIMBABWE - Zimbabwe's main opposition leader was freed from several hours in police custody, but nine others detained Wednesday were charged Thursday in what the government alleged was a terror campaign, opposition officials said. The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party accused President Robert Mugabe's government of trying to demonize its critics by fabricating allegations of an armed terror campaign. African leaders at an emergency meeting in Tanzania on Thursday appointed South Africa's president to mediate the political crisis.

Rebel chief appointed as prime minister

ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST - President Laurent Gbagbo signed a decree Thursday naming rebel chief Guillaume Soro prime minister as part of a power-sharing peace plan to unite the rebel-held north and the government-controlled south, a government spokesman said. About 9,000 U.N. troops and 3,500 French soldiers are deployed in Ivory Coast to ward off all-out civil war.

Seal hunt will be held on smaller scale

TORONTO - Canada announced Thursday that hunters can kill 270,000 harp seals this spring, despite protests that thousands of pups too young to swim have fallen through ice thinned by global warming, jeopardizing the stability of the population. Animal rights groups worldwide condemned the hunt as inhumane. The seal population in Canada now stands at about 5.5-million. Last year's quota was 335,000 animals.

Elsewhere

SANTIAGO, CHILE: Police on Thursday dispersed hundreds of rock-throwing high school students, and officials said 264 people were detained. The students' motives were not clear, but the demonstrations came on a date often marked by violence in commemoration of the Day of the Young Combatant, honoring two young brothers killed in a 1985 protest.

BEIJING: Officials fear for the lives of six workers trapped when a subway construction site for the 2008 Beijing Olympics collapsed Wednesday, the official Xinhua News Agency said Thursday.

[Last modified March 30, 2007, 01:24:03]