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Clashes In Somalia Kill 80 After Bid To Kill Aidid
MOGADISHU, May 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - At least 80 people died in fighting that erupted in a bid by the Transitional National Government (TNG) to assassinate Somali warlord Hussein Mohamed Aidid, as his faction claimed Saturday.
"Some 80 people were killed including civilians and the attackers. Around 200 were wounded," Aidid told AFP in an interview at his office here.
"The attackers were well trained and used sophisticated weapons, but my supporters overwhelmed them after a long fight," Aidid said. "Thirty technicals [trucks with mounted guns] took part in the fighting," he added.
"The proposal to kill me came from Djibouti and two Arab countries. Radical Islamists in Somalia were also part of the planned attack to assassinate me," Aidid charged, without naming the two other countries allegedly involved.
News agencies reported that the dead included Ali Bashi and Farah Gubadley, two former senior military officers in the government of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, who was overthrown in 1991.
Aidid earlier put the death toll at 22 and more than 40 wounded.
"Twenty-two people including civilians were killed in the fighting ignited by an attempt to assassinate Aidid when he was on his way to Mogadishu port," Aidid's spokesman Abbas Mohamed Galayr said.
"Militiamen loyal to the self-styled government attempted to kill our faction leader," he added.
Heavy clashes sparked on Friday between Aidid's loyal militiamen and TNG fighters, in which both sides used guns and mortars, witnesses said.
"I saw one group collect the bodies of three fighters killed near Mogadishu port," said one witness who declined to be named for security reasons, news agencies reported.
On Friday, Somalia's Interior Minister said that warlords, including Aidid, had received an assortment of arms from neighboring Ethiopia.
"The weapons arrived from Ethiopia through Hiran and Middle Shabelle regions. We know the type and the quantity of weapons," the minister, Dahir Sheikh Mohamed "Dayah" said.
However, Addis Ababa has denied Somalia's repeated allegations that it was backing warlord opposition groups, or that it was undermining the new TNG government in Mogadishu.
Dayah said earlier that these arms were received and controlled by warlord Musa Sudi Yalahow, who denied the allegations adding that the TNG was just trying "to hide their political failure". Yalahow, on the other hand, accused unspecified "Arab countries" of sending arms to Somalia.
"I am very surprised by the unfounded allegations made against Somali factions that are committed to bring peace in Somalia. Ethiopia did not give us weapons and we have not requested arms," Yalahow said.
The TNG (also called the Somalia Transitional Government [STG]), which was established last year and which enjoys the backing of international community, has failed to exert control beyond Mogadishu due to the absence of support from most warlords.
For his part, Aidid accused Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Sudan on Thursday of helping to arm the STG, born out of a conference of Somali clan leaders that was held in August 2000.
He said that Saudi Arabia granted $7.5 million to form a new army for the STG in spite of the fact that arms deliveries to Somalia have been banned since 1993 under a U.N. resolution.
Moreover, Yemen on Friday denied charges from Aidid that Sanaa was arming the STG.
"The comments attributed to Mohammed Aidid are both regrettable and surprising because they are completely unfounded and reflect an irresponsible attitude towards Yemen," a foreign ministry spokesperson said.
"Our brothers in Somalia know full well that Yemen has never taken a stand in favor of one or other of the factions in Somalia and that it has no interest in doing so," he said, quoted by the official news agency SABA.
"Yemen has at all times ... supported initiatives to guarantee the national stability, entente and unity of Somalia," the spokesman said, adding that Sanaa had provided food aid to the Somali people.
Aidid, however, backing his assertion that Arab and neiboring countries are behind the violence and arming of the TNG/STG, said, "I urge the Arab countries that have diplomatic presence here to leave Mogadishu in a week. They are fueling hostilities," while claiming: "Djibouti is the main hostile country that wanted me to die."
Civil war over the past decade has killed tens of thousands of Somalis and created a large refugee population, many of whom have gone to Yemen, which lies across the Gulf of Aden. According to U.N. figures, Yemen is hosting more than 56,500 Somalis in refugee camps.
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