Two Ethiopian soldiers killed in Somalia blast

Thursday, May 22, 2008

"A heavy explosion hit the Ethiopian soldiers as they were inspecting suspected mines off Maka Al Mukarama road," eyewitness Mohamed Farah said.

"I saw two dead soldiers and five others wounded. The soldiers then sealed off the area and civilian movement was restricted," he added.

"One of the soldiers was inspecting the roadside with a stick when the explosion went off. He was torn to shreds and several other soldiers were wounded by the shrapnel," said Ali Yare, another witness.

Ethiopian forces came to the rescue of Somalia's embattled transitional government in late 2006 and soon defeated an Islamist militia that had taken control of large parts of the Horn of Africa country.

The remnants of the militia have since waged guerrilla warfare against government forces, its Ethiopian allies and African Union peacekeepers, mainly in Mogadishu.

Following the killing in US airstrikes of Islamist leader Aden Hashi Ayro earlier this month, insurgents have vowed to up their offensive against Ethiopian, government and peacekeeping forces.

On Wednesday, three aid workers -- a Somali and two Italians -- were kidnapped by gunmen south of Mogadishu, the latest in a spate of attacks and kidnappings targeting humanitarian workers.

In an interview to Britain's The Guardian published Thursday, Eritrea-based Islamist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys vowed to continue the armed struggle until Ethiopian troops leave Somali territory.

Talks between the Islamist-dominated political opposition and the Western-backed transitional government were launched in Djibouti earlier this month, under the aegis of the United Nations.

But Sheikh Aweys dismissed the UN as a partial mediator, leaving opposition ranks divided ahead of the resumption of talks later this month.