Battles between police and suspected insurgents killed six people in the conflict-wracked Somali capital, AP quoted police, witnesses and a doctor as saying on Wednesday. In a separate shooting, two unidentified men killed an intelligence officer. Police were attacked with grenades and gunfire when they went to search a possible insurgents' hideout, said Col. Abdullahi Hassan Barise, the capital's deputy police commissioner. In the ensuing battle, which took place near Bakara Market in the south of the capital, two civilians, one insurgent and a policeman were killed, said Barise. Sakariye Bidaar, a businessman at the market, however, said that three civilians and one policeman were killed. Barise said police arrested a dozen suspects. Dr. Dahir Dhere of Medina Hospital said 30 people with gunshot wounds were brought to the hospital, including nine policemen. Two of the injured civilians died before they were taken to the operating room, Dhere told The Associated Press. He said the death toll could rise.
