African Union peacekeepers in Somalia were targeted by a roadside bomb in the capital Mogadishu today, as heavy fighting broke out in other parts of the country, dpa quoted witnesses as saying. The device went off as an AU convoy travelling from the airport to a nearby base went past, but no peacekeepers were killed. "After the blast, I hid in my home because the AU troops opened fire," Mohamed Ali, a resident near the blast, told the German Press Agency dpa. "Afterwards I saw a girl who had been killed by shrapnel and a man wounded by a stray bullet." There was also sporadic fighting between insurgents trying to topple President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and government forces in the Yaqshid district, one of the areas the warring parties are battling to control. Elsewhere in the country, fighting broke out between pro-government Muslim group Ahlu Sunna Waljamea and insurgent group al-Shabaab. Al-Shabaab and ally Hizbul Islam in early May launched a major push to oust Sheikh Sharif, who came to power earlier this year in a UN-backed peace process. Reports said that at least 10 people had died in fighting near the town of Webho in central Somalia. Ahlu Sunna Waljamea on Thursday pledged to defend Sheikh Sharif, who vowed to fight to the death against hardline Islamist militants. The insurgents say Sheikh Sharif is too close to the West and refuse to stop fighting until the AU peacekeeping force of 4,300 soldiers from Burundi and Uganda leaves. Hundreds have died and many more have been injured during weeks of heavy clashes in Mogadishu. The UN refugee agency UNHCR says that 96,000 people have fled the clashes. UNHCR said that the number of people crossing into neighbouring Kenya had risen to 200 per day, from an average of 100. Kenya hosts the Dadaab refugee camp - the largest in the world - where over 270,000 Somalis have sought shelter from 18 years of conflict. The insurgency has claimed the lives of over 17,000 people, mainly civilians, since early 2007 and coupled with a prolonged drought has left over 3 million Somalis dependent on food aid. Somalia has been embroiled in chaos since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and is widely regarded as a failed state.
