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At Least Four Dead in Latest Mogadishu Fighting


Witnesses in Somalia's capital say at least four people have been killed in renewed fighting between insurgents and government forces.

Residents say gunmen attacked a police station in the Holwadag district around midnight local time. Later fighting centered around a milk factory and the southern Mogadishu neighborhood of Shiirkole.

Witnesses say two soldiers and two civilians died in the fighting. The city was reported calm later this Friday morning.

In other news, Somalia's transitional government has shut down a prominent Mogadishu radio station. Shabelle radio said on its Web site that police entered the station today and arrested nine staff members, including the acting head of the station.

Shabelle said the Ethiopian embassy recently threatened the station that it would be closed. Ethiopia has several thousand troops in Somalia to protect the fragile government.

Somali authorities have shut down Shabelle and other Mogadishu radio stations in the past, accusing them of being anti-government in their reporting.

The government has battled an insurgency in Mogadishu since January, shortly after it seized control of the city from a rival Islamist movement with the help of Ethiopian troops.

Somalia has not had a stable central government since 1991.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP.

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