Ethiopian forces shoot 8 dead after a roadside bomb blast

[Hiiraan boy]

Somalia: Ethiopian forces shoot 8 dead after a roadside bomb blast

Aweys Osman Yusuf

Mogadishu 20, June.07 ( Sh.M.Network) At least nine people were killed so far after Ethiopian military forces in the Somali capital Mogadishu shot dead 8 civilians near former Somalia Defense Ministry in northwest of the Somalia capital where Ethiopian troops are based.

The killing came as an Ethiopian convoy hit a roadside bomb which exploded soon after the first military pick-up truck carrying a number of Ethiopian soldiers was badly damaged, according to an eye-witness who asked for anonymity in fear of comeback.

“The Ethiopians cordoned of the area, shooting any moving individual,” the witness said.

Three bothers, who lived in a house near the area where the incident happened, were shot dead by the Ethiopians. Ahmed Owdiini, a family member of the victims told Shabelle by phone after contacting him that the Ethiopians came over their home and extracted the three brothers after the roadside bomb blast.

“After the explosion, the Ethiopians began searching houses nearby and my three bothers along with three of their friends were chatting outside of the gateway of the home when the Ethiopians came and took them away with guns pointing at them. In a less than a minute we heard repeated gunshots. We could not come out, we were afraid, but minutes after the Ethiopians drove off, we rushed outside and witnessed the dead bodies of the six boys,” he said.

Owdiini said his mother and father went crazy when they saw the bodies of their three sons.

Two civilians were also killed in the incident as the Ethiopians fired shots at a minibus carrying passengers in the area.

The Somali transitional government made no comments on yesterday’s events.

Overnight brush gunfire

Insurgents attacked the Ethiopian and Somali bases in Tarebunka square around 11: 30 Pm local tine. Exchanges of gunfire and explosions could be heard throughout the city last night, residents told Shabelle.

The situation in the vicinity of the gunfight was calm on Wednesday morning although Ethiopian forces occupied Medina district this morning conducting house-to-house search operations. The district has been the only place found safe and demilitarized zone since the Ethiopians backing T.F.G. arrived in the capital in December last year.
Residents said they saw the body of one person in the road of Tarebunka on Wednesday morning

Explosion

A huge bomb explosion rocked the neighborhood of Hawlwadag, south of the capital around 9:20 pm local time. Unknown gunmen placed a bomb inside a tin and put it behind the wall of Hawlwadag police station last night, police officers reported this morning.

Ali Hersi Abdi, the commander of the station, told Shabelle that they have been tipped that unidentified man was spotted placing a container behind the station.

“A unit of the police went over and removed the container and we blew it up in uninhabited area near the station and no one was hurt in the operation,” he said