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By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.MOGADISHU, Somalia (AXADLE) – At least eight people including an elderly woman have been confirmed dead in Mogadishu following heavy clashes on Thursday, August 14, 2025, between Haramcad police units, supported by intelligence and military-police forces who were conducting eviction, and military personnel opposing the operation.
The fighting erupted early in the Horseed neighborhood of Hodan district, centered on land near the Horseed football stadium, where civilians had been living.
While the government did not announce the evictions, residents said they saw heavily armed men arriving the area early on Thursday.
Reports indicate that President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud intends to seize and later sell the land which is a former football field and housing complex currently occupied by IDP families.
Haramcad forces, led by Abdihakim Eeldheer, a relative of President Hassan Sheikh, launched the initial attack.
Residents who organized to resist were met with gunfire, later joined by military units reportedly refusing to comply with the forced evictions.
An elderly woman was killed in her own bed in Tarabuunka when government forces struck her with an RPG. She is being carried away on the very bed where she took her last breath.
This government is killing people for the sake of land who will they govern afterward? Which is more… pic.twitter.com/sOtzbKk2P9— Fahad Abdi (@fahadabdi77) August 14, 2025
The clashes intensified, and by midday Haramcad troops had regrouped, reinforced by Uganda-trained police-military units and other security forces.
Journalists covering the event were attacked and prevented from reporting directly. Some eyewitnesses reported seeing up to five civilian bodies lying in the streets. Others were struck by stray bullets inside their homes.
Haramcad forces were reportedly using anti-aircraft guns and other heavy weapons in the densely populated civilian area, causing mass displacement.
Women in the KPP area told Kaab TV that all residents near the site had fled, with more than 2,000 people displaced.
Condemnation from Leaders
Former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed strongly condemned the attack.
“I strongly condemn the assault by the National Army on the Horseed neighborhood in Hodan district, where civilians were killed and poor neighborhoods destroyed,” he said. “It is unacceptable that President Hassan Sheikh, sworn to protect the lives and property of citizens, would turn the army against them.”
The Puntland and Jubaland administrations also condemned the violence, criticizing the use of armed force against Mogadishu residents.
Meanwhile, the Mogadishu police command expressed regret over the deaths and injuries, claiming to have secured the site of the clashes.
Kaab TV sources report that tensions remain high, with both sides regrouping and fears that fighting could resume.
Abdi Nuur Siyaad, a local leader who lost relatives in Thursday’s fighting, said residents have no choice but to defend themselves.
He accused the international community supporting the federal government of enabling the forced displacement of civilians.
The eviction of residents from public land, later sold to wealthy businessmen, has become a major controversy surrounding President Hassan Sheikh.
Since 2022, thousands of low-income families, including previously displaced people, have been forcibly removed, many left with no alternative refuge.
The current unrest coincides with increasing uncertainty over the 2026 elections, as President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s term approaches its end.
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