Garowe Online (Garowe)
14 March 2008
Garowe — Ethiopian troops serving in Somalia's volatile capital embarked on extensive search operations early Friday, concentrated in Mogadishu's Daynile district, witnesses said.
The heavily-armed troops used armored trucks and were on foot patrol during the operation, with locals reporting that the soldiers entered some private homes and questioned inhabitants.
Last night, suspected insurgents launched at least eight mortars at the former Ministry of Defense building, which has served as an Ethiopian army base since 2007.
There were no reports of casualties on the Ethiopians' side, but witnesses said some of the mortars hit inside the compound and other mortars hit nearby civilian homes.
Unconfirmed reports said that two people, including a young child, were killed when a mortar slammed into their house. But medical sources confirmed to Garowe Online that at least five wounded civilians were admitted to Daynile Hospital this morning.
Ten Somali men were apprehended by the Ethiopian soldiers from their homes for questioning during today's search operations, witnesses reported.
In a separate attack, Ethiopian troops stationed at north Mogadishu's Maslah military camp near the livestock market were targeted with mortars.
Also today, at least three Somali police officers were killed by suspected insurgents in three different incidents near the city's main Bakara market.
In the first attack, insurgents hurled a hand grenade at a group of police officers standing guard near Howlwadaag intersection, which leads into Bakara.
One policeman was killed and four other officers wounded in the explosion, witnesses said.
A group of about ten insurgent fighters killed two police officers at the same intersection in a sneak attack later today, with witnesses saying the killers escaped before police reinforcements rushed to the scene.
These attacks took place in Mogadishu days after Somali Prime Minister Nur "Adde" Hassan Hussein appealed to the armed opposition to open peace talks with the Ethiopian-backed interim government.
The al-Shabaab guerrillas who are presumed to be leading the bloody insurgency have vowed not to talk with Nur Adde's government, even if Ethiopian troops leave the country.
The ongoing insurgency in Mogadishu has killed upwards of 6,500 people and displaced 600,000 civilians from their homes since last year, according to the UN and human rights groups.
Islamist-led insurgent groups want to expel Ethiopian troops from Somali soil and reestablish Islamic Sharia law across the country, while the secular government and its foreign backers oppose this.
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