Somalia: Ethiopians kill civilians in Mogadishu
Sat. January 20, 2007 08:52 am.
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Mohamed Abdi Farah
(SomaliNet) At least five civilians have been killed and dozens more were injured in an incident at Somalia capital Mogadishu on Saturday which involved the Ethiopian forces.
The disaster came after Ethiopian soldiers riding military convoys opened fire on a crowd of people in Suuqa Xoolaha (Livestock market) area in north of the capital Mogadishu.
Some of the wounded were serious, medical sources said.
Abdikarim Mohamed Ali told the local media that his car that was parking in the area where the incident occurred was overrun and crashed by an Ethiopian tank.
Mr. Mohamed, a husband of 3 wives and father of many children, complained that he was so sorry to lose his car and asked the government to be given compensation for his car. “It was the only car I used for feeding of my family... now I have nothing,” he said.
The Ethiopians began shooting when unidentified gunman carrying a pistol fired inside from the crowd a single bullet at the convoy and then the soldiers responded with firing of heavy machineguns, witnesses say.
Mogadishu, the capital Somalia has seen several insurgent attacks over the past few weeks against the Ethiopian forces backing the transitional federal government.
Attacks on the Ethiopian soldiers have increased since they arrived in the capital December 24 2006.
Earlier, Somalia president Abdulahi Yusuf who is now in the capital admitted that remnants of the ousted Islamists are still active in Mogadishu vowing that his government would crush down what he called ‘the terrorist elements’.
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