MOGADISHU, Jan 7: Heavy fighting erupted on Sunday in the Somali capital after gunmen attacked a camp housing Ethiopian troops hours, after government soldiers said they had secured remote regions in the south where Islamist fighters had been holed up.

“At around 8:00 pm (1700 GMT), we heard a heavy explosion after unidentified gunmen attacked a camp where the Somali and Ethiopian forces are based,” said Abdul Aziz Mohamed Gure, a Mogadishu resident.

“And minutes later, heavy gunfire started which lasted for about 10 minutes,” he added.

Another resident Abdi Mohamed said the fighting was sparked by a grenade attack.

Earlier, commander Abdulrasaq Afgebub said government and Ethiopian forces were in control of Ras Kamboni, a scrubland area bordering on Kenya to which the Islamists had retreated after abandoning their last major stronghold in Kismayo, about 500 kilometres south of the capital.

In central Somalia, government troops killed one person after opening fire on demonstrators who were protesting a decision by Ethiopian forces to arrest a police officer after he released an Islamist leader.

“The mission has been accomplished,” Afgebub said. “Government forces have taken control of Ras Kamboni and other areas in the zone where the Islamists were based in the last four days.” ”Our forces accompanied by our Ethiopian friends have totally cracked down on the remnants of the Islamists in the border area.” But the joint forces, he added, were “still tracking some of them who are hiding in the border area forest and we are going to get them.” ”There is no power left for the terrorists,” Afgebub said.—AFP