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Fighting between Islamist rebels and the Ethiopean troops in Mogadishu |
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Thursday, 20 March 2008 |
Fighting broke out in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Wednesday between Islamist rebels and the Ethiopian troops backing the government.
Witnesses in northern Mogadishu said three Ethiopian soldiers and at least one gunman were killed as both sides traded heavy machinegun fire, grenades and artillery barrages.
The fighting came a day after the United Nations said it was still too dangerous to send peacekeepers to Somalia.
Late on Tuesday, the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said insecurity in Somalia made it too dangerous to deploy a U.N. peacekeeping force there until certain political and military conditions were met.
However, Ban Ki-Moon said that he is prepared to recommend sending some 27,000 peacekeepers to Somalia to replace the stretched African Union Forces there.
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