“We lost three soldiers in battle and the other side left more dead bodies behind. I do not know their exact number.” An ambulance driver told Reuters that he had seen eight dead fighters lying on the streets and had picked up 16 wounded “Shelling into the residential areas is still going on. Somalia’s government and a 4,300-strong AU force (AMISOM) have been unable to take control of rebel strongholds in Mogadishu and other parts of the Horn of Africa nation despite international support and training. Mogadishu’s deputy mayor said the rebels had captured an area near the presidential palace at the weekend. Somalia’s interim government has been pushing for a stronger mandate for AMISOM to allow its soldiers to help government forces in their fight against opposition groups.

Under a bilateral security pact that took effect in January, the United States must gradually transfer more than 10,000 detainees it still holds to the Iraqi government to be either charged in local courts or released.(Reporting by Zahra Hosseinian; writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Tim Pearce). * African Union troops engage rebels near president’s palace * Three government soldiers, eight others killed By Ibrahim Mohamed MOGADISHU, July 12 (Reuters) – Somali government troops backed by African Union peacekeepers battled insurgents on Sunday in clashes that killed at least 11 people in north Mogadishu, residents and officials said. They landed at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport on Sunday for a welcome ceremony attended by their families and senior government officials, Iran’s English-language Press TV reported. The White House said last week it had handed over the men at the request of the government in Baghdad, in compliance with a U.S.-Iraq security agreement.

military in Iraq for up to two years returned to Iran on Sunday, three days after they were released in Baghdad, state television reported The capture of the Iranians, who include officials U.S. forces accused of arming Shi’ite Muslim militias at the height of Iraq’s sectarian war, stoked tension between Tehran and Washington, also at odds over Iran’s nuclear programme The men were first handed over by their U.S. jailers to Iraq’s Shi’ite Muslim-led government, which is friendly with Iran, and transferred to Iran’s Baghdad embassy on Thursday. TEHRAN, July 12 (Reuters) – Five Iranian officials detained by the U.S. We have now pushed them back from three northern districts of Mogadishu. AU peacekeepers were assisting us,” said Salad Ali Jelle, a parliamentarian who was involved in Sunday’s fighting.(Reporting by Ibrahim Mohamed; writing by Jack Kimball; editing by Tim Pearce).