Sunday, June 29, 2008
The Ethiopian troops arrived in the town of Guriel Saturday night after withdrawing from Beledweyn, the provincial capital of Hiran Province, 300 km north of Mogadishu, the Somali capital.
Insurgent fighters took over the central Somali region of Hiran following the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops who had been protecting the local administration in Beledweyn.
The troops set up an army post on the outskirts of the town of Guriel in Galgadud region, central Somalia, after briefly entering inside the town. They requested to meet local elders who refused to see the Ethiopians, sources in Guriel told Xinhua by phone.
Insurgents attacked the troops, who responded with heavy artillery shelling on the town, forcing most of the families to flee their homes in Guriel, 100 km north of Beledweyn, into the nearly countryside.
It is not clear if there had been any casualties either on the warring sides or on the civilian population who are reportedly living in harsh conditions under trees and bushes in the jungle around Guriel where they sought sanctuary.
Ethiopian military commanders, who usually do not speak with the media about military operations, were not readily available for comment on the alleged shelling on the central Somali town of Guriel.
Ethiopian troops crossed over to Somalia in late 2006 to assist Somali government forces topple an Islamist administration in south and central Somalia. Ethiopian stated then that it saw the group as a threat to its national security.
The fighters of the deposed Islamist movement had been waging nearly daily attacks on Somali government forces and officials and the Ethiopian troops backing them since February 2007.
Thousands have been killed, wounded or displaced from their homes by the on-going conflict.
The attacks on Somali and Ethiopian troops by insurgent fighters continued unabated despite the signing of a peace deal between a faction of the opposition coalition, the Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia, and transitional Somali government culminating UN sponsored peace talks in Djibouti early this month.
Another faction of the alliance based in Asmara, the Eritrean capital, and the Al-shabaab Islamist group have boycotted the talks held in Djibouti last month. They vowed to continue their attacks on Ethiopian and Somali government forces and officials until Ethiopian troops withdraw from Somalia.
Somalia has been without a central authority since the ouster of former Somali ruler Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1991
Source: Xinhua, June 29, 2008