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Mogadishu Calm After Days of Heavy Fighting

27 April 2007

Somali Transitional Federal Soldiers with an anti aircraft gun mounted on the pickup and soldiers carrying AK 47's in the street of Mogadishu, 27 Apr 2007
Somali Transitional Federal Soldiers with an anti-aircraft gun mounted on the pickup and soldiers carrying AK 47's in the street of Mogadishu, 27 Apr 2007
The streets of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, have been relatively calm Friday after more than a week of intense fighting.

Ethiopian and Somali government troops are patrolling the streets of the battered city in a hunt for any remaining Islamist insurgents.

There was at least one incident of looting, with men in army uniforms stealing computers and other property from a Coca-Cola bottling plant.

A local group tracking casualties, the Elman Human Rights Organization, says about 400 people died in the past nine days as allied government and Ethiopian forces carried out an offensive against the insurgents.

Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi announced Thursday that allied forces had seized a large portion of rebel-controlled territory. He claimed victory over the insurgents in an interview with the Associated Press.

Ethiopian troops entered Somalia last year to help the interim government drive a rival Islamist movement from power. Insurgents began attacking government targets in January, soon after Islamist leaders vowed to continue fighting.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

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