Battle of Mogadishu (2009)

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Battle of Mogadishu (2009)
Part of Somali Civil War, War in Somalia (2009-present)
Control of Mogadishu after the battle
Date 7 May – 1 October 2009 Location Mogadishu, Somalia Result Rebels make large gains but fail to topple the government Both sides claim victory Low level violence continues Territorial changes Insurgents take control of most of North and East Mogadishu
Belligerents
Al-Shabaab Hizbul Islam Foreign Mujahideen Al-Qaeda	Somalia: ARS-D-TFG coalition AMISOM
Commanders and leaders
Moktar Ali Zubeyr "Godane" Mukhtar Robow Ali Mohamed Hussein Hussein Ali Fidow Ali Mohamud Raghe "Dheere" Xasan Xuseen Ibrahim "al-Afghani" Hassan Dahir Aweys Hassan Turki Omar Iman "Abubakr" Hassan Mahdi Musa Arale Abdulkadir Hamsa "Qatatow" 2 † Ahmed "Lashin" Sheikh Muhiyadin 2 Mo'alin Hashi Indho Ade 1 Ali Saleh Nabhan † Fazul Abdul Mohammed	Sharif Ahmed Omar Hashi Aden † Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke Mohamed Abdi "Gandhi" Said Mohamed Hersi (resigned) Mohamed Husein Adow † Yusuf Hussein Dumal Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame Muhiddin Hassan Juris Ali Said † Muse Sudi Yalahow Nur Daqli† Abdulkadir Ali Omar Indho Ade 1 Abdirisak Mohamed Qeyloy Levi Karuhanga Juvenal Niyoyunguruza †
Strength
Al-Shabaab: 2,500[1]	TFG: 2,900[1] AMISOM: 4,350[2]
Casualties and losses
94+ killed*[3]	Total: 126+ KIA 97+ KIA[4] Amisom 29 KIA[5]
1,497 civilians killed3 4,911 civilians injured*[6] 223,000 displaced[7]
Casualty figures do not include those killed by criminal related violence, accidents or infighting among their factions. 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.[8] 2 Abdulkadir Hamsa "Qatatow" was first a government commander but he defected to Hizbul Islam. Soon after, he was assassinated.[9] Ahmed "Lashin" Sheikh Muhiyadin was also an ICU commander but defected on 10 June.[10] 3 Casualty figures of 1,739 killed were reported for the whole of 2009, at least 242 of which were combatants. The 1,497 remaining civilian dead includes both people killed before 7 May and people killed after 1 October.

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.^{[citation needed]} 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.

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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]} The ultimatum was however rejected ^{[citation needed]} and so, al-Shabaab launched several attacks on key sites in the city ^{[citation needed]} provoking a major government offensive on 11 – 12 July,^{[citation needed]} which led to a total expulsion of Islamist forces from the city.^{[citation needed]} Islamists however returned on 13 July,^{[citation needed]} with large re-enforcements from the South Eastern Region,^{[citation needed]} government forces withdrew from all captured positions ^{[citation needed]} and minor clashes continued.^{[citation needed]} A Seventh round of fighting was finally held between 21 and 27 August,^{[citation needed]} which ended mostly indecisive.^{[citation needed]} In early October the Al-Shabaab-Hizbul Islam alliance ^{[citation needed]} was broken by a power struggle in Kisimayo ^{[citation needed]} were after the two groups turned on each other.^{[citation needed]} Both groups kept up their fight with the TFG ^{[citation needed]} however the split between the two groups marked a downwards trend in violence.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[11]