Referring to resistance groups, Hussein Mohammad, a spokesman for the Somali President Abdullahi Yousef Ahmad claimed on Saturday "The insurgents are hiding. Now, they change their strategy. They want to use car bombs, landmines."

Mohammad admitted that bringing security back to the city was slow going, saying "We have to search house by house. It takes a long time."

He continued "Every day we find bombs and landmines," adding that 200 people had been arrested in recent days.

With direct combat having ended over a week ago, Somali forces accompanied by the occupying Ethiopian troops have turned their attention to a house to house arms search in an effort to gain total control of the war-wracked city.

They have also multiplied road blocks, closing some districts off to traffic as the Union of Islamic Courts movement which controlled Somalia for a relatively calm six month period is opposed to the occupiers' presence.

The group was ousted in December after the expatriate government forces backed by Ethiopian troops occupied Mogadishu.

This was later followed by US warplane bombardments, claiming to target al-Qaeda terrorists, leading to many civilian casualties.

According to a Somali human rights group, around 400 people -- most of them civilians -- died in the last rounds of fighting, in which soldiers sought to root out resistance.

Many Mogadishu inhabitants fear that the current attempt to control the city will not hold, and fighting will return. Their determination to hold on to weapons despite the disarmament has complicated the army's efforts.

Source: Press TV

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