The New Nation - Internet Edition

Agency

At least 39 people were killed on Tuesday in fighting that erupted when Islamist insurgents attacked Somali, Ethiopian and African Union forces in the capital and central region, residents said.

The clashes, some of the most serious in months, came a week before a deadline for the implementation of a truce agreement signed by rival factions last month in Djibouti was due to expire.

Thirteen civilians were killed in three southern Mogadishu districts after more than two hours of clashes punctuated by machine-gun fire, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.

A mortar landed in a house in K4 district, killing six family members, after fighting erupted when insurgents attacked AU forces and Somali forces camped in the area, Ahmed Ali Nur, a family member, said.

A woman and two children were killed in Bulohube district when a mortar crashed into their houses as another batch of rebels attacked an Ethiopian army base nearby.

Four children were killed in Waberi district in artillery duels between the Ethiopians and the rebels, bringing the Mogadishu toll to 13, several residents added.

In central Somalia, insurgents ambushed an Ethiopian army convoy travelling from Guguriel near the Ethiopian border to Mataban town, about 450 kilometres (280 miles) north of Mogadishu.

"I counted 18 bodies in and around Mataban town," said Hussein Moaliam Aden, an elder in Mataban, adding that he had seen the bodies of at least seven Ethiopian soldiers lying near the ambush site.

Mataban residents said a child was killed as the clashes spread into the town in Galgudud region, confirming that 26 people had been killed.

Residents reported that the fighting, in which both sides used armoured vehicles, was the heaviest in the region since Ethiopian forces entered Somalia in late 2006 to bolster the country's weak transitional government and route out the Islamic Courts Union (ICU).

The ICU had briefly controlled most of Somalia with relative peace and stability before the arrival of Ethiopian troops which triggered fiery chaos and war.

"Most of the dead are from the rival sides. We have never seen such a heavy fighting since the Ethiopian forces entered our country," local resident Feisal Mohamed said.

Sheikh Abdirahim Isse, a spokesman for the insurgents, confirmed the Mataban clashes and claimed the Ethiopians had suffered heavy losses.

"There was heavy fighting today and the Ethiopian forces suffered huge losses. Many of them were killed and their armed vehicles destroyed," Isse told AFP by phone from an unknown location.

The Ethiopian army, which rarely comments about such incidents, has pledged to pull out once the United Nations deploys a force to bolster an African Union force confined to Mogadishu.

According to several international rights groups and aid agencies, the fighting has left at least 6,000 civilians dead and displaced hundreds of thousands in the last 12 months alone.

On June 9, the Somali government and its political opposition signed agreements, including a ceasefire scheduled to enter into force within 30 days, but a radical wing of the fighters called Shebab has refused to recognise it.