Nine killed at Somalian checkpoint
At least nine people are dead after gunmen opened fire on a checkpoint in Somalia.
Four policemen were among those killed on the road leading to a market in the capital.
Two gunmen, and three civilians also died in the crossfire.
Witnesses say fighting broke out late yesterday near Mogadishu's animal market.
Mogadishu police commander Col Abdi Hassan Awaleh Qeybdid says the violence started when a pick-up truck carrying a number of armed gunmen employed by a businessman pulled up at a checkpoint.
A policemen was shot before the gunmen left the scene amid an exchange of gunfire.
The fighting, which involved assault rifles, heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, reignited when both the police and gunmen brought reinforcements to the area, Col Qeybdid says.
Recently, police have been relocating street vendors and small traders away from the road leading to the market in an attempt to clean up the district.
It is not known if the fighting was linked to the operation, and the businessmen who employs the gunmen was not identified.
