Ethiopian(occupying) troops slay five civilians in Mogadishu

[Fabregas]

MOGADISHU. Ethiopian troops killed five young civilians in southern Mogadishu after the soldiers’ truck was hit by a roadside bomb in the turbulent capital, witnesses said yesterday.

 

Four of the youths died instantly after the blast on Tuesday near the Ethiopians’ base in the former Siad military college. Doctors said a fifth died later in hospital from his wounds.

 

"The boys were chatting near the scene, but when they tried to run after the explosion, the Ethiopians shot dead four of them, three of them brothers," said witness Abdulkarim Mohamed Faqey.

 

"They were innocents and we don’t know why they were shot."

 

While the Ethiopian truck sustained damage, witnesses could not say if there had been Ethiopian casualties as the scene was sealed off immediately after the explosion.

 

"I was watching from a distance and I saw Ethiopian forces picking up some soldiers from the partly-destroyed military vehicle," said another witness, Ali Ganey. "I cannot say whether they were dead or wounded."

 

Roadside explosions and gun attacks have intensified in Mogadishu since Somali government troops, backed by Ethiopian forces, quelled an Islamist insurgency in April after months of fighting that left hundreds of civilians dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.

 

Somalia has been without an effective government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre touched off a bloody power struggle that has defied numerous attempts to restore stability. — AFP.

[Xoogsade]

It goes on like this till they leave.