MOGADISHU
(AFP) - At least 35 people were killed in
Somalia in in separate clashes between Ethiopian
troops and Islamist insurgents, witnesses and
officials said Thursday.
Some 23 were killed late Wednesday near the village
of Garsani, some 300 kilometres (180 miles) north of
Mogadishu, when insurgents ambushed an Ethiopian
military convoy.
Several witnesses said at least 13 civilians and
eight Ethiopian soldiers had been killed in the
fighting, while the insurgents admitted to losing
two fighters in the battle.
"The fighting was so heavy and our holy warriors
with the help of Allah won a huge victory," Sheikh
Abdirahin Ise, an Islamist spokesman told AFP.
"In return they (Ethiopians) killed pastoralists who
were near the fighting zone," he added.
"I have counted bodies of 13 civilians, including
four children," said Ibrahim Adan Moalim, a local
resident.
Ethiopian forces late Wednesday killed at least 12
nomads in Walaweyne, about 90 kilometres (55 miles)
east of Mogadishu, bringing the death toll to 35.
"Those nomads were setting up their makeshift camp
in Almore village when they were killed by Ethiopia
forces who had been ambushed by insurgents on a
nearby road," Sheikh Mohamed Addow, another elder.
"The Ethiopians slit throats of some people," he
added.
Another elder, Ali Omar confirmed the death toll
said the bodies were being prepared for burial.
"So far, the team has collected 12 bodies that are
now in the Yakbiriweyne mosque. We will bury them in
a mass grave," he told AFP.
Islamists insurgents confirmed they had ambushed the
Ethiopians.
"Our forces ambushed the Ethiopian enemies and
destroyed three vehicles in Walaweyne. I cannot
confirm the exact number of Ethiopians killed, but
they suffered heavy casualties.
"The Ethiopian forces will not use the roads in our
country peaceful. They will take the pain of the
bullets of our mujahideens," said Islamists
spokesman Sheikh Mukhtar Robow.
The Islamists promised to avenge the killing of
Hashi Aden Ayro -- a senior Islamist leader accused
of being Al-Qaeda's pointman in Somalia -- in a US
airstrike last week.
Ethiopian troops entered Somalia in late 2006 to
rescue an embattled transitional government and
defeated an Islamist militia which had taken control
of large parts of Somalia.
The remnants of the militia have since waged a
deadly guerrilla battle against government forces,
its Ethiopian allies and African Union peacekeepers,
mainly in Mogadishu.
On Tuesday, Amnesty International accused the
Ethiopian forces of increasing resorting to
throat-slitting executions in their crackdown on
Islamists rebels.
Separately, a truck driver contracted by the World
Food Programme was shot dead in central Somalia late
Wednesday by a gunman who opened fire at a convoy of
trucks ferrying food.
"We condemn this senseless killing and once again
urge all parties to ensure the safe passage of
humanitarian staff and cargo across the country,"
Peter Goossens, WFP's director for Somalia said in a
statement.
The driver was the second to be killed since
February, when militiamen shot dead the leader of a
convoy of WFP-contracted trucks in southern Somalia.
A seemingly endless violence in the country has
disrupted delivery of aid to hundreds of thousands
of civilians uprooted from their homes across the
country.
Humanitarian groups are struggling to feed at least
two million people in Somalia, which is experiencing
a prolonged drought and record high inflation that
touched off two days of rioting in the capital this
week.
The shattered African nation has been wracked by
violence since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed
Siad Barre led to a bloody power struggle that has
defied numerous bids to restore normalcy.
