ABSTRACT
In the areas of Mogadishu under the control of al-Shabaab and Hizb al-Islam deterioration in civil liberties, traditional Somali culture and society, and the most basics of freedoms created an atmosphere that was increasingly regressive and brutal for those who disobeyed. In August–October 2010, the Somali capital of Mogadishu was pounded by heavy fighting that pitted the hard-line Islamic extremist groups al-Shabaab and Hizb al-Islam against Transitional Federal Government forces backed by African Union troops from Uganda and Burundi. Intelligence sources reported that al-Shabaab lost 500 to 700 fighters in the month-long pitched battles in Mogadishu. The battle broke out after government soldiers, with the help of AU peacekeepers, launched a predawn offensive on the al-Shabaab bases in Dayniile, northwest of Mogadishu. After the battle, al-Shabaab's spokesman, Sheikh Abdiaziz Abu Mus'ab, held a press conference in Mogadishu and told the reporters that they had come under attack from AMISOM and government forces.
