Wednesday, May 30, 2007
It was unclear if they died in the explosion or in Ethiopian gunfire that broke out afterwards.
"Four people were killed. Their bodies are littered near the scene. We do not know if they were killed by the roadside bomb or by heavy gunfire that was opened by the Ethiopian troops," Abdi Saleh, a witness said. "Two of them were businessmen," he added.
"We are sure about the deaths of four Somalis, and we suspect that two Ethiopians might have been killed and several wounded," said Abdirahman Harale, another witness.
"Elders are currently talking with the Ethiopians in order to collect the bodies."
Other witnesses said Ethiopian troops had sealed off the area.
Somali government officials confirmed the attack but not the casualty figures. The Ethiopian military refused to comment.
The truck had been escorting a tanker carrying water to an Ethiopian army base near Beledweyne, around 300km north of the capital Mogadishu, witnesses said.
Last week, the Ethiopian military defused another roadside bomb in the area, said Beledweyne resident Ali Aden.
Almost daily attacks have occurred, mainly in the Somali capital Mogadishu, since Ethiopian-backed government forces defeated Islamist and clan fighters at the end of April after weeks of heavy fighting.
Ethiopia-backed government forces ousted an Islamist movement, the Islamic Courts Union, at the start of the year.
Somalia plunged into lawlessness with the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and more than a dozen attempts to restore central authority have since failed.
Source: AFP, May 30, 2007