Heavy fighting in Somali capital kills 15
Ali Muse says women and children were among the dead
Mogadishu: A medical worker says the heaviest fighting in months has killed at least 15 civilians in Somalia's capital.
Ali Muse says women and children were among the dead and that more than 30 people were wounded. Muse heads the ambulance service in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.
A spokesman for the Islamic insurgency says the fighting started when the Islamists attacked government bases and African Union peacekeeping troops around the city.
Sheik Ali Mohamoud Rage says the attack early Friday was a response to a plan by peacekeepers and the government to wrest back control of the battered seaside capital.
Somali police spokesman Col. Abdullahi Hassan Barise says Somali forces beat back the insurgents.
