Gunmen attack Somali convoy

MOGADISHU – Gunmen attacked a convoy of Somali and Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu, firing rocket-propelled grenades that destroyed one military vehicle and setting off a half-hour gunbattle, residents said.

No official casualty figures were available from the attack Sunday night in the capital’s northeastern Hurwa district. The government, with critical help from Ethiopia’s military, last month drove out an Islamic militia that had controlled much of southern Somalia since the summer.But sporadic fighting continues.Government troops and allied Ethiopian soldiers were searching house-to-house for the assailants after Sunday’s attack.”Residents in Hurwa district have stopped sending their children to school as businesses and schools were closed,” said Shine Moalim Hussein, a resident of the neighbourhood.”Ethiopians and Somali troops are carrying out house-to-house searches.””I have seen one Ethiopian military vehicle burning after it was hit by an RPG,” said Shine Moalim Hussein, who lives near the area of the attack.”When the exchange of gunfire started at around 11:00 pm, I quickly closed my small kiosk and ran for my life.”The Ethiopian and Somali troops occupied a water treatment plant, a worker in the plant said.On Monday, President Abdullahi Yusuf appointed a mayor and administration for the capital, Mogadishu.This is a measure that African, European and US diplomats, known as the International Contact Group on Somalia, had said earlier this month would be an important step for the government to establish its authority.On Sunday, an African Union delegation was in the Somali capital to discuss the deployment of international peacekeepers, and the government expanded a house-to-house search for weapons in a one of the world’s most dangerous and heavily armed cities.Muhammad Ali Foum, the AU’s special representative for Somalia, said nine delegates arrived for meetings with the government.The US, UN and AU all want to deploy African peacekeepers to stop Somalia from returning to clan-based violence and anarchy.Nampa-APThe government, with critical help from Ethiopia’s military, last month drove out an Islamic militia that had controlled much of southern Somalia since the summer.But sporadic fighting continues.Government troops and allied Ethiopian soldiers were searching house-to-house for the assailants after Sunday’s attack.”Residents in Hurwa district have stopped sending their children to school as businesses and schools were closed,” said Shine Moalim Hussein, a resident of the neighbourhood.”Ethiopians and Somali troops are carrying out house-to-house searches.””I have seen one Ethiopian military vehicle burning after it was hit by an RPG,” said Shine Moalim Hussein, who lives near the area of the attack.”When the exchange of gunfire started at around 11:00 pm, I quickly closed my small kiosk and ran for my life.”The Ethiopian and Somali troops occupied a water treatment plant, a worker in the plant said.On Monday, President Abdullahi Yusuf appointed a mayor and administration for the capital, Mogadishu.This is a measure that African, European and US diplomats, known as the International Contact Group on Somalia, had said earlier this month would be an important step for the government to establish its authority.On Sunday, an African Union delegation was in the Somali capital to discuss the deployment of international peacekeepers, and the government expanded a house-to-house search for weapons in a one of the world’s most dangerous and heavily armed cities.Muhammad Ali Foum, the AU’s special representative for Somalia, said nine delegates arrived for meetings with the government.The US, UN and AU all want to deploy African peacekeepers to stop Somalia from returning to clan-based violence and anarchy.Nampa-AP