CHRONOLOGY-Fighting in Somali capital
Source: Reuters
May 27 (Reuters) - Islamist insurgents firing grenades attacked Ugandan peacekeepers in Mogadishu, killing at least 10 people and injuring a dozen others in the crossfire, residents and officials said on Tuesday. Here is a chronology of events in Somalia: October 2004 - In 14th attempt since 1991 to restore central government, deputies elect Ethiopian-backed warlord Abdullahi Yusuf as president. In December, Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi swears in 27 ministers in Kenya. June 2006 - The Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) seizes the capital Mogadishu from U.S.-backed warlords and takes control of parts of southern Somalia. Oct. 9 - Islamists declare holy war against Ethiopia, which they accuse of invading Somalia to help the government. Dec. 24 - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says he is waging war on the Islamists to protect Ethiopia's sovereignty, in the country's first public admission of military involvement. Dec. 28 - Islamists flee Mogadishu ahead of a joint Ethiopian and Somali government force which captures the city. Dec. 31 - Prime Minister Gedi enters Mogadishu. Jan. 8, 2007 - Yusuf arrives in Mogadishu for the first time since he became president in 2004. Feb. 20 - U.N. Security Council authorises African Union peacekeeping mission for Somalia for 6 months. A Ugandan vanguard flies into Baidoa on March 1. April 26 - Gedi says "most fighting" in Mogadishu has finished after a series of battles with Islamists which killed at least 1,300 people and forced hundreds of thousands to flee. Aug 30 - Yusuf winds up 6-week-long peace conference, which had no visible impact on insurgency. Islamists and some other opposition figures had boycotted the talks. Oct 8 - Gedi reaches a truce with Mogadishu's dominant Hawiye clan, some of whom had supported Islamist-led insurgents. Oct 27 - Heavy fighting erupts in Mogadishu between insurgents and Ethiopian troops. Residents say dozens of people are killed in the three days of battles that follow. Oct 29 - Gedi resigns after a long feud with the president. Nov 2 - Battles break out in Mogadishu again. Nov 24 - Parliament swears in Nur Hassan Hussein as prime minister. Dec 24 - Burundi deploys a contingent of 192 peacekeepers to Mogadishu to bolster a struggling AU force. Dec 31 - Local human rights group says that 6,500 civilians were killed in Mogadishu in 2007. Feb 5, 2008 - An explosion kills at least 20 Ethiopian immigrants in the northern port of Bossasso. The al Shabaab militant group, an Islamist group linked to al Qaeda, later claims responsibility. March 3 - Two U.S. missiles hit a house in southern Somalia in an attack Washington said was directed at "known terrorists". March 26 - Islamist fighters seize the town of Jowhar, the most significant of several towns captured in recent months from the Western-backed government. They seize it again on April 9. April 22 - Militias allied to the government recapture the southern port of Guda from the al Shabaab wing, taking the death toll from an upsurge of recent fighting to nearly 100. May 1 - A U.S. air strike kills Aden Hashi Ayro, an Islamist commander thought to be al Qaeda's leader in Somalia and at least 30 other people on the small central town of Dusamareb.
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