Battle of Mogadishu (2009)
The Battle of Mogadishu (2009) started in May with an Islamist offensive, when rebels from al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam attacked and captured government bases in the capital of Mogadishu. The fighting soon spread, causing hundreds of casualties, and continued on at various levels of intensity until October. The battle's name usually includes the year, when referenced, in order to distinguish it amongst the nine major Battles of Mogadishu during the decades long Somali Civil War.
| Battle of Mogadishu (2009) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Somali Civil War, War in Somalia (2009-present) | |||||||||
Control of Mogadishu after the battle | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Al-Shabaab Hizbul Islam Foreign Mujahideen Al-Qaeda |
Somalia: | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Moktar Ali Zubeyr "Godane" |
Sharif Ahmed | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| Al-Shabaab: 2,500 |
TFG: 2,900 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 94+ killed* |
Total: 126+ KIA
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1,497 civilians killed3 | |||||||||
1 Sheik Yusuf Mohamed Siad "Indho Ade" (a warlord who is notorious for switching sides), and his militia were part of Hizbul Islam until 17 May, when he defected to the government. | |||||||||
The Islamist offensive lasted from 8 to 14 May and ended with relative success as they managed to take control over most of the capital, while ARS-D and government (TFG) forces withdrew into AMISOM protected territories. But despite major gains, the rebels failed to topple the government during the eight days of fighting and small scale clashes continued until 22 May, when the government launched a major offensive to retake the city, as Islamist forces had mostly withdrawn into the Central Region and the government was now backed by powerful warlord Indho Ade.
The government offensive initially had some success as they captured a few bases, however in a matter of hours the Islamist launched a successful counter offensive and re-captured the lost areas and made even more gains. As a result, the government offensive was aborted on 23 May.
The offensive was however resumed on 1 June, resulting in a third round of fighting which lasted until 4 June and saw the government make enormous gains. Islamists launched a new offensive on 16 June, lasting until 23 June, entering government strongholds in Eastern Mogadishu for the first time, the offensive was relatively successful and saw most neighbourhoods in Kaaraan, Shibis, Abdiaziz and Wardhigley fall to their control.
The government launched another offensive on 1 July, insurgents however successfully repelled the offensive, making gains until 5 July, when al-Shabaab's leader Sheikh Moktar Ali Zubeyr gave government forces a five-day ultimatum to hand over their weapons. The ultimatum was however rejected and so, al-Shabaab launched several attacks on key sites in the city provoking a major government offensive on 11 – 12 July, which led to a total expulsion of Islamist forces from the city. Islamists however returned on 13 July, with large re-enforcements from the South Eastern Region, government forces withdrew from all captured positions and minor clashes continued. A Seventh round of fighting was finally held between 21 and 27 August, which ended mostly indecisive. In early October the Al-Shabaab-Hizbul Islam alliance was broken by a power struggle in Kisimayo were after the two groups turned on each other. Both groups kept up their fight with the TFG however the split between the two groups marked a downwards trend in violence.
A report Elman Peace and Human Rights group at the end of the year said that 1,739 people had been killed throughout 2009 by violence in Mogadishu.