Battle of Mogadishu (March – April 2007)
| Battle of Mogadishu (2007) | |||||||
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| Part of the War and Insurgency in Somalia | |||||||
 Mogadishu skyline during the fighting in March 2007 |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Popular Resistance Movement (PRM) Hawiye clan militiamen |
 Ethiopia Somalia Uganda
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 427 killed 150 captured |
11 killed (Somalia) 37 killed 68 wounded (Ethiopia) 1 killed 5 wounded (Uganda) 1 Mil Mi-24 helicopter gunship shot down 2 tanks damaged |
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Civilian casualties: 11 Belarusian civilians killed |
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Civilian casualties:
1,176 Somali civilians killed (Hawiye claim) 4,600 Somali civilians wounded
The Battle of Mogadishu began on 21 March 2007 in the Shirkole area of Mogadishu between Somali Transitional Federal Government forces and Ethiopian troops, and Islamist insurgents. The battle usually includes the dates, when referenced, in order to distinguish it amongst the during the decades long Somali Civil War.
A failed 21 March and 22 disarmament operation by the TFG resulted in the capture of TFG troops.
On 23 March 2007, a TransAVIAexport Airlines Ilyushin Il-76 plane crashed in Mogadishu. The plane is thought to have been shot down. There were 11 people on board the aircraft, all but one Belarusian crew members died in the crash. The other remaining survivors were found wandering around the crash site and later died in hospitals.
On 1 April, it was reported that the death toll of the previous four days of heavy fighting in the capital is at least 849 killed civilians, 200 insurgents and 36 Ethiopian soldiers along with the one Ugandan soldier, for a total of 1,086 dead.
Fighting was essentially halted for 2 April, after Hawiye clan leaders declared a truce with Ethiopian military officials starting 2 pm 1 April. They further called on Ethiopian troops to withdraw from areas they had occupied during the past few days of fighting. Although there had been a lull in fighting on 2 April, Salad Ali Jelle, the deputy Defence Minister of the TFG denied that there had been or would be any ceasefires between Hawiye clan leaders and Ethiopian military forces. Jelle stated that it was not Hawiyes involved in the recent fighting, but "remnants of the defeated Islamist" and called upon civilians residing in insurgent positions to evacuate the area.
On 11 April, at least two people have been killed and three others were wounded in a renewed fighting that erupted in north of the Somalia capital between interim government troops and local insurgents overnight. However, on 12 April Somalia's Ambassador to Ethiopia Abdikarin Farah stated that Mogadishu was now peaceful for the first time in sixteen years.
On 14 April, two government soldiers are killed in an ambush in the capital.
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Wikipedia