AU troops directly engage in Mogadishu fighting

The African Union troops in Mogadishu known as AMISOM were directly involved in fighting between the Somali government soldiers and anti government fighters on Sunday, leaving at least 40 people dead and more than 100 others wounded, officials, and medical sources said.

Dahir Mohamoud Dhere, the deputy director of Medina hospital in Mogadishu said 123 wounded civilians were hospitalized in Medina hospital for the last 24 hours.

"We are involved in the fighting with the insurgents because they have crossed a red line by threatening the African Union peacekeeping forces in Mogadishu," Barigye Bahoku , the spokesman for AMISOM said.

The spokesman added that AMISOM troops they would pursue the rebels who have withdrawn from several key positions they held in north Mogadishu.

He also said that AU troops were in imminent danger and had to take some limited action because the rebels crossed the red line where they were not supposed to go.

Sheik Yusuf Mohamed Siyad better known as Indho Ade, a state minister for defense of the Somali government said president Sharif Sheik Ahmed ordered the fighting against the rebels and added that they would continue the fighting until the clear the Islamist rebels out of the country.

The government soldiers packed by AU tanks captured three districts in north Mogadishu. Witnesses in Mogadishu say heavy fighting has also started in Hawlwadag district where the Islamist insurgents have main bases.

The nearly 4,300 troops from mainly Uganda and Burundi are part of an envisaged 8,000- strong African Union Peacekeeping forces, have the limited mandate of protecting senior government officials and important government installations in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

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