Forty-seven dead in Somali gun battles

Insurgents and Ethiopian troops backing Somali government forces fought gun battles today in the Somali capital Mogadishu which left at least 47 people dead and 71 wounded, a human rights group said.

Some of the 41 dead civilians are people who were wounded in the previous day’s heavy fighting and died of their injuries today, said Sudan Ali Ahmed, the chairman of the Elman Human Rights Organisation.

Six insurgents died.

Ahmed said the figures were based on what Mogadishu residents, hospitals and human rights activists reported to his group.

They did not have any casualty figures for either Ethiopian or Somali government soldiers.

“The killing of civilians like this is a crime against humanity,” Ahmed said.

“We urge the international community to send a team to investigate these crimes. They are war crimes.”