2 die in Somali roadside blast
2007-06-18 14:14
Mogadishu - At least two people were killed on Monday when a roadside bomb hit a Somali army convoy in Mogadishu near the site of a peace conference to be held next month, officials and witnesses said.
Government spokesperson Abdullahi Muhyadin said the northern Mogadishu explosion targeted a military convoy, the latest in a string of guerrilla-style attacks against government targets.
"I saw two dead civilians and three injured government forces," said Guhad Moalim, a resident of northern Mogadishu.
Another witness Mukhtar Mohamed said forces sealed off the area after the attack, which accured about few hundred metres from a police compound that is being prepared to hold about 3 000 delegates.
Mogadishu has suffered a string of bomb attacks targeting government officials since its forces backed by Ethiopian troops quelled an Islamist insurgency in late April after weeks of worst fighting seen in the capital in 16 years.
Last week, the United Nations-backed peace conference for feuding Somali factions was postponed for the third time to July 15 owing to insecurity and lack of funds.
Somalia plunged into lawlessness with the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and more than a dozen attempts to restore central authority have since failed.