Somalian president joins troops to mark independence anniversary

Mogadishu - Somalian President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed on Thursday joined government troops fighting Islamist militants on the day the country marked 50 years since independence. The president took part in an attack against militants, the al- Shabaab, who have waged an insurgency against the fragile Western- backed Mogadishu government since 2007. The BBC reported that Ahmed, wearing army fatigues, boarded an African Union tank as it joined the battle. Battles were raging north of the city, the BBC quoted eyewitnesses as saying. Al-Shabaab reportedly prohibited people from celebrating independence in the areas it controls.
Somalia, widely regarded as a failed state, has been embroiled in conflict since the 1991 ouster of former  Siad Barre.