Ethiopian troops slaughtered nearly 30 Somali civilians taking shelter inside a mosque from raging clashes between Ethiopian forces and Islamic Courts fighters in Mogadishu, reports said on April 21, adding that six of the dead were scholars from the Tabligh Sufi group, which is not involved in the clashes. The victims had taken shelter inside Al-Hidaya Mosque in northern Mogadishu after fierce clashes between Ethiopian forces and Somali fighters.
“Ethiopian troops also threatened to behead women if they came under attack again,” said a woman who was trapped inside the mosque. At least 85 people were killed in two days of fighting in the area. As the fighting died down on April 21, corpses were seen littering the streets.
Mogadishu has been the epicentre of clashes since Ethiopian troops invaded Somali in 2006 to topple the ruling Islamic Courts at the request of the weak interim government. Thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee. The Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), an opposition umbrella group, accused Ethiopian troops of taking civilian hostages. Human Rights Watch also accused the Ethiopian troops in a recent report of systematically bombing heavily populated areas in Mogadishu in violation of international humanitarian law. The Somalis traditionally view Ethiopia as a rival. Ethiopia sent troops into Somalia several times between 1992 and 1998 to attack Islamic movements.