Thursday, August 14, 2008
The Ethiopian soldiers had been attacked by Islamist insurgents moments earlier and apparently mistook the minibus -- travelling south from Mogadishu to Wanlaweyn -- as hostile, the witnesses said.
"They were ambushed by insurgents hours before they opened fire on the bus. The bodies of five civilians killed in the incident were brought to Wanlaweyn," local elder Adan Nur Jisow said.
Witnesses said the driver survived but seven others were wounded.
"The driver told us that the Ethiopian forces sprayed gunfire on the minibus... It was dark and maybe they could not identify whether they were insurgents or civilians," resident Mohamed Sheikh Yusuf said.
The Ethiopian army invaded Somalia in late 2006 to rescue Somalia's embattled transitional government and oust an Islamist militia which controlled of large parts of the Horn of Africa country.
The Islamists have since reverted to guerrilla warfare and have been targeting Somali government forces, Ethiopian troops and African Union peacekeepers almost daily.
Civilians have borne the brunt of the brutal conflict. According to international rights groups and aid organisations, at least 6,000 have died over the past year.
Source: AFP, Aug 14, 2008