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  • Tuesday, 24 November 2009
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Mogadishu Calm After Days of Heavy Fighting

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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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