MOGADISHU: Combat shook Mogadishu early on Friday as government troops launched a dawn attack on a house belonging to a former warlord as part of a disarmament campaign.

Seven people died in the violence. Explosions and gunfire were heard as troops battled militiamen loyal to the former warlord.

The African Union military force in Somalia, AMISOM, said the raid was carried out near the home of a former district commissioner, Ahmed Daci.

The AU said that Daci’s militia fired at AMISOM, precipitating a firefight. “During the operation, the militia was overpowered and 20 were arrested, 15 guns and an assortment of ammunition recovered,” AMISOM said on its Twitter feed.

In bloody scenes that recalled the days of daily warfare in this seaside city, wounded Somalis were carted off the hospitals and onlookers helped carry or push the casualties.

The dead included four civilians, two militia members and one soldier, said police officer Capt. Mohammed Hussein. Eight people were wounded, he said.

Launched last week, the Somali government’s disarmament campaign is an attempt to reduce the number of weapons in the violence-prone city.

The government says some 500 guns were recovered during the first four operations. Friday’s operation was the fifth.The target of the government’s disarmament campaign is the feared and powerful clan warlords.

The government says the raids are taking place to ensure that the city’s arms don’t fall in the hands of al-Shabab militants.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2014