Garowe Online (Garowe)
29 June 2008
Guri — Ethiopian troops deployed in Somalia's central regions have conducted a series of movements over the weekend, sparking deadly battles with insurgents and leaving control of a strategic town to Islamist rebels.
On Sunday afternoon, a group of insurgents attacked an Ethiopian army garrison that arrived in the town of Guri El yesterday.
Ethiopian troops
Locals said that the Ethiopian army base was attacked with mortars and rockets, irking a response from the Ethiopian military that included an artillery barrage.
Four people were killed and ten others wounded during the battle, mostly civilians. Tens of local families have reportedly fled to the relative safety of the countryside.
Ali Sheikh Mohamud, the mayor of Guri El, told reporters earlier Sunday that four civilians died during clashes on Saturday night, when the Ethiopian force first arrived in Guri El after leaving bases in Hiran region further south. [ READ: Somalia's Islamic Courts peacefully takes key town]
He indicated that many families who fled the insurgency in Mogadishu fled again after fresh clashes erupted in Guri El between Ethiopian forces and insurgents loyal to al Shabaab.
Independent sources in Guri El have told Garowe Online that Ethiopian army commanders there wanted to hold a meeting with the town's traditional elders today, but none of the elders showed up for the meet.
Islamic law
In Beletwein, the capital of Hiran region, Islamic Courts militia commanders and Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) officials met with local elders a day after the Islamists' took control of the town.
According to Col. Omar Hashi, the ARS internal affairs secretary, the two sides agreed to establish a joint committee to oversee the implementation of Islamic law across the region of Hiran.
The Islamist commanders pledged to improve security and "protect" the region from "the enemy," a reference to Ethiopian troops.
It is not clear why Ethiopian forces vacated the whole of Hiran region, forcing local administrators to flee to safety as the Islamists' took control.
But an insider suggested that the Islamic Courts militia in Beletwein is aligned with a wing of the ARS led by its chairman, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who inked a peace pact with the Ethiopian-backed interim government earlier this month.
On the other hand, al Shabaab fighters in Guri El town are loyal to an armed outfit that has refused to recognize the peace deal and vowed to continue the insurgency until Ethiopian forces withdraw from Somali soil.
The ongoing insurgency in Somalia started in early 2007, as Ethiopian troops attempted to disarm Mogadishu's heavily-armed citizenry.
Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since, according to local human rights groups gropus.
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