Somali rebels down helicopter

Rebels shot down a helicopter gunship in Mogadishu today in a second day of battles as Ethiopian and Somali troops sought to …

Rebels shot down a helicopter gunship in Mogadishu today in a second day of battles as Ethiopian and Somali troops sought to crush an insurgency by Islamists and clan militia.

At least 30 people, and probably far more, were killed as shells rained down on the capital and deafening tank fire shattered homes.

Hundreds of guerrillas replied with barrages of mortars, missiles and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). Terrified residents hid in their homes and reporters watched from rooftops as two Ethiopian helicopters fired on an insurgent stronghold before one of them was struck by a missile or RPG.

"Smoke billowed from the cabin and it turned towards the ocean," one witness, Swiss journalist Eugen Sorg, said. "It crashed at the south end of the airport runway." The joint Ethiopian and government offensive triggered the bullet-scarred city's worst clashes for months.

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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply disturbed". "He is particularly concerned about the use of air strikes and the introduction of tanks and heavy artillery into densely populated parts of the city," a spokesman said in a statement. More than 200 people have been wounded since Thursday, and the toll of dead and maimed looked certain to rise. "A mortar has just fallen into the house next to me.

We can hear crying," said Faisal Jamah, a south Mogadishu resident. "There are a lot of wounded, but there is no way to take them to the hospitals due to the fighting."