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A
roadside bomb killed eight Somali government
soldiers and wounded six others when it tore through
a convoy in the central town of Baidoa on Wednesday,
witnesses said.
Islamist insurgents from the al Shabaab militia who
are battling the interim government and its
Ethiopian military allies had vowed to retaliate
after a US air strike killed their leader last week.
Witness Abdiqadir Aden said the blast destroyed one
military vehicle as the convoy drove into Baidoa
from a nearby army camp. Baidoa is the seat of
Somalia's parliament.
"The roadside bomb killed eight government troops,
including their unit leader, and wounded six
others," Aden told Reuters.
A nurse at Baidoa Hospital said doctors were
fighting to save the lives of the other soldiers hit
by the explosion.
"The death toll might rise because they are in
critical condition," said Musdaf Ali, the nurse.
The al Shabaab is the militant wing of a sharia
courts group that ruled much of southern Somalia for
six months in 2006 before being ousted by allied
Somali-Ethiopian troops.
Since then they have been at the forefront of an
Iraq-style insurgency targeting the government with
assassinations, mortar strikes and roadside bombs.
The group vowed to retaliate after their leader,
Aden Hashi Ayro, thought to be al Qaeda's leader in
Somalia, was killed in a US air strike a week ago.
Source: Reuters, May 08.08
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