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At least 32 people were killed and 159 injured in a clash between the Libyan forces and armed groups on Sunday. The Health Ministry said that the Sunday death toll sparked fears of a significant new conflict, reported Arab News. Armed groups had exchanged fire that damaged several hospitals and set buildings on fire starting Friday evening.
An air strike killed at least seven people in the capital of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region on Friday, medical officials there said, the first such attack after a four-month old ceasefire collapsed this week.
The officials said three children were among the dead but a a federal government spokesman denied any civilian casualties.
A new offensive by Mozambique’s Islamic extremist rebels in the embattled northern province of Cabo Delgado has increased the number of displaced by 80,000 and undermines the government’s claims of containing the insurgency.
The rebels’ drive began on June 5 following a period of relative calm when the commander-general of Mozambique’s national police had declared that “the war against terrorism is almost at an end.”
Islamic militants have stormed a hotel in Somalia’s capital, engaging in an hours-long exchange of fire with the security forces that left at least 20 people dead, according to police and witnesses.
In addition, at least 40 people were wounded in the late Friday night attack and security forces rescued many others, including children, from the scene at Mogadishu’s popular Hayat Hotel, they said Saturday.
The Ethiopian government and Tigrayan rebels have had “direct engagements,” the African Union said in a statement made public on Thursday, in the first official confirmation of such contacts between the two warring sides.
The government has been locked in a grinding conflict with the rebels, but in recent weeks both sides have mooted the possibility of talks to end the 21-month war, with Ethiopia pushing for the AU to lead any negotiations.