You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Africa Horn
Islamists claim attacks on Ethiopian troops in central Somalia
2008-01-26
(SomaliNet) Shiekh Muqtar Robow (Abu-mansoor), the spokesman of Al-shabaab, the Young Islamic Movement, has claimed on Friday their terrorist forces attacked Ethiopian troops in Hiiraan province, central Somalia 350KM north of the capital. "Our goal was to make the Ethiopian troops in Hiraan province and other parts of central Somalia feel the pain of the death and we forced them to touch it and we left them huge loss" he said.

The spokesman said his terrorist forces returned to their positions in the region after the assault and vowed they will continue the fight against the allied Ethiopian-Somali forces in the country. Talking about the casualties of his men, he mentioned one of his terrorists militia dead and another injured in the fighting.

The Ethiopian military has not yet commented yesterday's fighting with Islamist fighters in the far region. Ethiopian forces set up few more temporary bases in Kalabeyr north of Baladwein town and Salah-jeroow along the road connecting Hiiran province to Gal-gadud and Mudug regions in central Somalia in a strategy to fight against militants that made impossible public service vehicle's stream to cross.

Speaking one year after he sent up to 10,000 troops into Somalia to end Islamist rule in Mogadishu and southern areas of the country, Meles Ethiopian premier told the Guardian Newspaper progress was being made towards establishing "democratic, responsive and inclusive" governance there. But while serious security challenges throughout the remained, it was impossible to give a timetable for withdrawal. "The TFG is reaching out to moderate members of the ICU for a commitment to resolve problems by peaceful means. They are already in contact with some of these groups. So there is a lot of progress going on."

Down sizing the real number of his troops on the ground, Meles warned that Ethiopia could not disengage militarily until the African Union's peacekeeping mission to Somalia, Amisom, was up to strength or had at least achieved a "substantial deployment".
Posted by:Steve White

00:00