81 Die in Clashes Between Islamists and Troops in Somalia

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Sporadic street fighting between Ethiopian troops and Islamist fighters trying to bring down Somalia’s shaky government killed 81 people in the past two days, the head of a local human rights group said Sunday.

The deaths were caused when Ethiopians fired heavy artillery and tank shells in residential areas of Mogadishu, said the rights leader, Sudan Ali Ahmed, chairman of Elman Human Rights. “We condemn this latest fighting,” he said.

Besides the 81 people who were killed, 119 were wounded, he said. His group said that all of those killed were civilians, but witnesses said that because the insurgents wear civilian clothing, it was impossible to say how many of the dead were noncombatants.

The rights group tracks casualties through hospitals and morgues and puts out regular reports on the toll from Somalia’s fighting. Its figures could not be independently verified. Ethiopian officials could not be reached for comment on the group’s claim that shelling from their forces had caused the casualties.

The clashes on Sunday broke out in rubble-strewn streets still littered with the bodies of people killed the previous day.

A witness, Aden Shire, said the Ethiopians had seemed to be searching for the bodies of fellow soldiers killed Saturday. Another witness, Omar Abdulahi, said that among the dead he counted were two old men in their homes who had been shot by Ethiopian soldiers.

A woman, Nasteho Moalim, said her 7-year-old daughter and three neighbors had been killed, and her husband wounded, by tank shells that hit their homes.

On the government’s side, at least one Somali soldier and two Ethiopians were killed, said another witness, Asha Shegow Abikar.

The prime minister, Nur Hassan Hussein, addressed the growing toll of civilian deaths during the latest outbreak of fighting.

“The government is sorry about the fighting and loss of innocent civilian lives,” he said at a news conference on Sunday. “Our aim is to restore law and order through reconciliation and peaceful means, but that does not mean our troops and those of our ally Ethiopia will not defend themselves as they come under constant attack.”

Ethiopian troops supporting the transitional government’s soldiers ousted Islamist fighters from power in Mogadishu, the capital, in December 2006. The Islamists receive support from Ethiopia’s archenemy, Eritrea.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew a dictator and then turned on one another.