'There were limbs everywhere'

2008-02-23 18:19

Mohamed Sheikh Nor

Mogadishu - A roadside bomb killed three civilians and wounded five others on Saturday in an attack apparently meant for a passing convoy of Ethiopian troops in Somalia's war-battered capital, witnesses said.

"There were limbs and flesh everywhere," said resident Abdulkadir Barre, who said he saw three bodies in the middle of the street.

Among the dead were two sisters who ran a shop near the site of the explosion, he said.

Another witness, Isse Osman, said he saw five others with serious injuries, one of them a student.

Thousands of people were killed last year in Somalia, many of them caught in the crossfire as Islamic insurgents battle government troops and their Ethiopian allies.

Those who saw the explosion said the bomb went off just after a convoy of Ethiopian soldiers in pickup trucks and other vehicles passed through the area. The site was cordoned off and surrounded by troops in the afternoon.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another.

A web of clan loyalties and the involvement of archenemies Eritrea and Ethiopia further complicates the conflict in the impoverished Horn of Africa nation.

- AP