Fighting kills 26 in central Somalia

Fighting kills 26 in central Somalia Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:26:48

At least twenty people, mostly military forces have been killed in central Somalia in an ambush by militants, residents have said. They said the assailants attacked an Ethiopian army convoy, heading from Guguriel which is the stronghold of the habargidir ayr clan near the Ethiopian border to Mataban, about 450 kilometers (280 miles) in northern capital Mogadishu. Hussein Moaliam Aden, an elder man who witnessed the bodies of at least seven Ethiopian soldiers adding that, "I counted 18 bodies in and around Mataban town." Residents in Mataban said a child was shot dead as the clashes crept into the town, confirming that 26 people were killed in the fighting. They said that the battle, in which both sides used heavy armored vehicles, were the heaviest confrontation in the region since Ethiopian soldiers entered Somalia in late 2006.