African Union force moves beyond Somali capital limits

African Union (AU) and government troops launched an offensive against Islamist insurgents in the Somali capital on Friday, seizing rebel bases beyond the city's limits for the first time, the AU force said. Supported by tanks, the AU's AMISOM force said it had driven the insurgents' out of the coastal city's Mogadishu University as well as the Barakaat cemetery, leaving the two sites under government control.
"This is the first time AMISOM has been able to secure an area outside the parameters of the city, allowing them to defend greater Mogadishu from the exterior," Paddy Ankunda, AMISOM force spokesman, said in a statement. A Reuters witness heard heavy gunfire shortly before encountering a damaged 4x4 car in a narrow, sandy street. Five government soldiers had been killed, including a commander.