March 29 (Reuters) - Helicopters and tanks pounded rebel positions across Mogadishu on Thursday as allied Ethiopian and Somali government troops launched a major push against insurgents, with at least 11 civilians reported killed. Here are some key facts about Somalia: * THE COUNTRY: GEOGRAPHY: The Horn of Africa nation of 10 million people has a long coastline on the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden. Its neighbours are Djibouti to the northwest, Ethiopia to the west and Kenya to the southwest. RELIGION: Islam (Sunni), with a small Christian minority. ECONOMY: A lack of government and years of fighting have wrecked the economy, but a fledgling government signed a broad trade agreement with neighbouring Kenya in 2005, the first since 1991 when the country descended into anarchy. * A POWER VACUUM: -- Somalia has had no constitution as rivalry between clan-based militia groups over the years has prevented the emergence of any conventional central authorities. -- Since 1991, the rise of clan-based sharia courts in Mogadishu and some other parts challenged the aspirations of the Western-backed interim government of President Abdullahi Yusuf to restore central rule for the first time in 15 years. -- After winning a bloody three-month battle against the warlords, Islamist militia captured Mogadishu in June 2006, the first time warlords had not run the city since 1991. -- Though the Islamists signed a pact to recognise President Yusuf's interim government last June, their formation of a national council, creation of new courts, and movement of militia was perceived as a challenge to the government. -- Ethiopia has said the Islamists are led by terrorists and sent in troops to prop up the interim government. The Islamists have exploited this to rouse Somali nationalism against a rival seen for centuries as a Christian imperialist power. -- The Islamists were however ousted from Mogadishu by the Ethiopians and Somali government over the New Year, and have been blamed for an increasingly bloody insurgency in Mogadishu.
