9 in Somalia Die as Police Battle Militias

Heavy fighting that broke out in Somalia’s capital has killed nine people, including three civilians caught in cross-fire as police battled heavily armed militias, authorities said.

The fighting late Friday pitted militiamen loyal to a businessman against the police forces of Somalia’s transitional national government. Both sides used machine guns, assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

Frightened civilians evacuated the area near Mogadishu’s animal market where the shooting took place. Police commander Abdi Hassan Awaleh Qeybdid told journalists that his forces were attacked by militiamen opposed to the reorganization of the market.

Over the last few days, police have been moving street vendors away from the roadside and allocating them plots of land on which to set up their businesses.

Four policemen and three civilians were killed after the violence erupted, and at least 17 people were injured. As the battle wore on, reinforcements for both sides arrived. Two policemen were killed in an ambush on their way to the site.

The market was quiet Saturday.

Somalia, without a central government since 1991, is carved into clan-based fiefdoms ruled by warlords who thrived in the chaos that followed the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

The shaky transitional government controls only parts of the capital and pockets of the rest of the country and has been trying to bring the warlords on board since its inception last year.

Last week the government signed a peace accord with some of the warlords in the Kenyan town of Nakuru, but many key warlords rejected the deal, throwing doubt on its viability.

On Thursday, 13 people were killed in Mogadishu in inter-militia battles thought to be sparked by animosity toward the Nakuru agreement.