In two separate attacks, roadside bombs exploded near a presidential convoy and a military one in Somalia on Friday. Soldiers opened fire in self defense, witnesses said.
About 40 people were killed, the witnesses said. They could not say how many people died because of the explosions and how many because of the gunfire. The violence also could not immediately be verified by Somali officials, the insurgency or Ethiopian military officials. Somali officials rarely confirm death tolls and their Ethiopian allies never speak to the media.
The killings occurred a day before the president and his estranged prime minister are to hold talks amid a protracted power struggle between them that has complicated efforts to end Somalia’s Islamic insurgency.
TROOPS OPEN FIRE
One man said Somali government forces opened fire after two roadside explosions occurred near the president’s convoy as it was traveling to the Mogadishu airport. Farah Daud said his father and four people were killed. The witness did not know whether anyone in the convoy was hurt, or whether it was carrying President Abdullahi Yusuf at the time.
In a separate incident, a witness said Ethiopian soldiers opened fire on the road between the capital, Mogadishu, and Afgoye after roadside bombs targeted their convoy. Witness Ali Jama said he counted 35 dead.
A woman who fled the scene with her two children said she believed there were more than 30 bodies in the street.
“Ethiopian convoys opened fire into different areas where thousands of displaced people were living; they killed everyone on the road,” Sahra Nor Osma said.
BUS OF BLOOD
Another witness, Muse Mohamed, said a two-year-old child and seven women were among the dead after Ethiopian troops raked two minibuses traveling behind their convoy with gunfire immediately after the explosion.
“Blood was pouring out of the buses,” said Fadumo Kheyre, also at the scene.
Tens of thousands of displaced Somalis line the road between Mogadishu and Afgoye, surviving on aid handouts in ragged shelters built from sticks and clothes.
The reported deaths underscore the difficulty of enforcing a peace agreement reached between the government and a faction of the insurgents last month. The agreement divided the insurgency, with the more radical Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys seizing power from Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, who signed the deal.
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