The event was sparked by the assassination of Roman Catholic Bishop of Mogadishu Salvatore Colombo and the subsequent arrest of several Muslim religious leaders by the Barre regime.
According to human rights groups and independent sources, the violence, which was overwhelmingly carried out by government forces, resulted in approximately 400 killed and over 1,000 injured.
In the aftermath of the riots, around 2,000 people were arrested and 46 men from the Isaaq clan were summarily executed by the military outside Mogadishu in an event now known as the Jazeera Beach Massacre.
The explosion of violence in the capital led to international condemnation towards the Barre regime, withdrawals of foreign support and inflamed anti government sentiments.
Agence France-Presse reported that other sources asserted the assassination had been a professional hit carried out with a burst of machine gun fire from a Land Cruiser.
[11] Somali ambassador to the United Kingdom Ahmed Jama Abdallah had claimed that the incident had begun with a peaceful demonstration from the mosque which had then escalated when many other citizens began joining the crowd and throwing stones.
He further asserted that the incident had escalated into bloodshed because elements associated with "certain political movements" turned the demonstration violent, but noted that by no means were the agitators related to Islamic extremism.
[11] President Siad Barre would address the nation on radio about the violence that same afternoon: Mogadishu Domestic Service in Somali 1713 GMT 15 July 1989:[15]"In the name of God, the compassionate and merciful: Comrades, yesterday there was a problem.
According to eyewitness accounts, government troops known as the Red Berets rounded up approximately 48 Isaaq men at random and drove them in trucks to Jazeera Beach, located 20 miles south of Mogadishu.
[12][7][6] Africa Watch, a human rights organization, reported that approximately 400 individuals were killed and over 1,000 were injured during the events, but many were hesitant to seek medical treatment due to fear of arrest.
[5] The July massacres had significant consequences for the Barre regime and its foreign relations with the United States, which had previously been its principal source of financial and military support.
In response, the Bush administration withdrew its request for more than $20 million in emergency economic support for the Somali government and began distancing itself from President Siad Barre.
In response to the killings, a group of civilian politicians, intellectuals, businessmen, and religious leaders representing a large coalition of Somali clans formed the Council for National Reconciliation and Salvation (CNRS).
While the CNRS received support from countries such as Egypt and Italy, efforts ultimately proved unsuccessful due to a lack of willingness to negotiate on the part of the Siad Barre regime.