Bloody battle rages in Somali capital

[Truthiness Inspector]

Source: CNN

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Artillery fire and mortar shells rained down on Somalia's capital Saturday as government troops and their Ethiopian allies continued a major offensive to quash a growing insurgency by Islamic militants.

The fighting sent residents fleeing some of the heaviest fighting in Mogadishu since the early 1990s.

On Friday, insurgents shot an Ethiopian helicopter gunship out of the sky and mortar shells slammed into a hospital, leaving piles of bodies in the streets and wounding hundreds of civilians.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said dozens of people have been killed since Thursday and more than 220 injured, most of them civilians with bullet, grenade and other shrapnel wounds. The death toll is likely to be far worse, however -- the fighting was so severe and widespread that bodies were not being picked up or even tallied.





Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/03/31/somalia.ap/

[lastout]

1. tribal politics the same as in all Muslim cultures

[daleo]

3. Ethiopia has a sizable Christian population

Between one third and one half, according to the CIA factbook.

Muslim 45%-50%, Ethiopian Orthodox 35%-40%, animist 12%, other 3%-8%

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/et.html

[daleo]

2. Where does Ethiopia get the money for helicopter gunships?

I guess we all know. You wonder if it was only Ethiopians on this gunship. If Americans were killed it would seem to be possible to hide the casualties in the general carnage of Iraq.