Helicopters pounded rebel positions, and tanks rumbled through Mogadishu today as allied Ethiopian and Somali government troops began a major push against insurgents.
Ethiopian helicopter gunships fired rockets, residents said, in the first use of aerial power in the capital during the increasingly vicious fighting of recent months.
Breaking a fragile ceasefire in place since the weekend, the soldiers launched attacks from early morning on insurgents' strongholds in the Ramadan area of north Mogadishu and around the main soccer stadium.
Eleven civilians have been reported killed.
Islamists, ousted from Mogadishu by the Ethiopians and Somali government over the New Year, are blamed for an increasingly bloody insurgency in Mogadishu. Disgruntled clan militia have joined their cause, inhabitants say.
Explosions and gunfire rattled around the streets from soon after dawn, sending residents running for cover in their homes. "Early in the morning, the government troops and Ethiopians attacked us at the Ramadan Hotel," one Islamist source said.
"The Ethiopian forces, who are now facing strong resistance, continue to shell particular targets of the insurgents," a local report said. "Two helicopter gunships started bombardments in the rebel positions of the capital."
Hospitals reported mass casualties.