Roadside Bomb Kills Four AU Peacekeepers in Mogadishu

www.chinaview.cn 2008-05-23 20:57:41  

    MOGADISHU, May 23 (Xinhua) --

Four African Union peacekeepers were killed and unknown number of civilians were wounded Friday after an AU military truck was attacked by a roadside bomb in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, witnesses said.

    "I saw four dead soldiers being pulled out of the much damaged truck," Isse Harun, a kiosk owner near the scene of the blast told Xinhua. "A number of passers-by were also wounded in the explosion."

    The truck was moving along the K4 road near the airport in south Mogadishu were AU peacekeepers are based, when the bomb went off, witnesses said.

    Spokesman for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) declined to comment on the casualties but confirmed that a blast occurred targeting the peacekeepers, saying he will brief the media on the "incident" soon.

    Nearly 2,600 African Union peacekeepers are currently deployed in Mogadishu. The troops, from Uganda and Burundi, are part of a planned UN authorized 8,000-strong African Union peacekeepers. Other African countries that pledged to contribute did not send their contingents due to logistical and security concerns.

    No group has claimed responsibility for the latest attack but (Somali resistance fighters) have vowed to attack any foreign troops in Somalia who they accused of assisting Ethiopian occupation troops and Somali government forces.

    A number of Ugandan peacekeepers were killed in similar attacks blamed on (the resistance fighters) last year.

    Meanwhile, (Somali resistance) fighters clashed with Somali government forces and Ethiopian occupation troops as they tried to carry out searches for weapons and suspected fighters near the main Bakara market in the south of the capital.

    A number of shells landed on empty houses inside the market which Somali government officials say is a (resistance) hideout.

    Residents around the market say that the shells were fired in retaliation by Ethiopian occupation troops in the Presidential Palace in Mogadishu after shells fired by (Somali resistance fighters) landed inside the Palace, a claim rejected by the presidential spokesman.

Editor: Gao Ying