By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN
Monday, May 21, 2007
It was the latest in a series of explosions targeting convoys of government officials or troops, as Islamic insurgents appeared to be stepping up attacks.
At sea, piracy was threatening aid deliveries to impoverished Somalis. The U.N. food agency appealed for high-level international action to secure waters off the coast.
The Ethiopians' six-vehicle convoy had been passing through the southern part of Mogadishu when a land mine detonated in front of the first pickup truck, said witness Abdi Ma'alin, who was walking nearby.
The troops — who had come from the former Ministry of Defense building — opened fire in all directions soon after the blast, and controlled the scene for 15 minutes before they continued their journey, said another witness, Sahal Sheik, who sells sheep in a market.
Ma'alin said the Ethiopians arrested one person. There was no immediate word on Ethiopian casualties from the attack.
"The explosion was so huge that it sent volumes of smoke into the sky," Ma'alin said.
After the Ethiopians opened fire, "I saw one civilian body lying on the curb, and another with blood on his shoulder running toward the residential neighborhoods," he said.
A day earlier, an explosion near Mogadishu Mayor Mohamed Dheere's convoy killed at least two civilians, said Dheere, who was unharmed. His bodyguards shot and killed a suspected insurgent who had been in a nearby tree.
"The remnants of the Islamic courts are behind this explosion," Dheere said Sunday, referring to the Council of Islamic Courts, which seized control over much of southern Somalia last year before being driven out by government troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers.
Another bomb attack on Thursday targeted the prime minister's convoy, but no one was hurt.
Also Monday, nine Egyptian fishermen who were arrested two weeks ago off the semiautonomous Puntland region of Somalia were released. The group had been charged with illegal fishing, Puntland's fishing minister told The Associated Press.
"We released them because we respect that they are Muslims," according to Said Mohamed Rage.
Puntland, in northeastern Somalia, has escaped much of the violence that has plagued southern Somalia, but banditry and piracy are a problem. The 1,880-mile coast has emerged as one of the most dangerous areas for ships.
On Saturday, a Somali guard was killed in a failed attempt to hijack a ship contracted by the U.N. World Food Program near the southern Somali port of Merka.
It was the eighth attack this year in the area, which is near shipping routes between the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. If no action is taken, "not only will our supply lines be cut, but also those of other aid agencies," WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said in a statement, urging quick international action.
At the end of April, the government declared victory in battles against clan rivals and Islamic insurgents, who have vowed to wage an Iraq-style guerrilla war unless the country becomes an Islamic state. Battles in Mogadishu between March 12 and April 26 alone killed at least 1,670 people. Since February, 400,000 Mogadishu residents have fled violence in the capital.
Source: AP, May 21, 2007