Insurgents attack AU troops

2008-10-13 19:04

Daniel Wallis

Mogaidshu - Islamist rebels attacked AU peacekeepers in Mogadishu for a second day running on Monday after more than 800 AU reinforcements from Burundi arrived.

The AU mission, AMISOM, is guarding key sites in the Somali capital where a UN-backed interim government and its Ethiopian military allies are battling Islamist rebels and clan militia.

At least two of the new arrivals from Burundi were wounded within hours on Sunday when a bomb hit their convoy. A similar attack was launched on Monday.

"One of our soldiers was injured after an AMISOM vehicle was targeted by an explosive device," an AU spokesperson told Reuters.

"This morning, armed elements also attacked one of our bases, but there were no casualties on our side."

The peacekeepers have been targeted in a string of bombings and ambushes since the Islamists launched their rebellion early last year. The fighting has killed nearly 10 000 civilians.

Seven Ugandan soldiers and one Burundian have died.

Worst insecurity

The worst insecurity for nearly two decades in the chaotic Horn of Africa country has fuelled a wave of kidnappings this year as well as at least 30 attacks by pirates offshore.

On Monday, the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) said ransom talks had stalled for two foreign journalists who were seized by gunmen on the outskirts of Mogadishu on August 23.

"It's more than 50 days since the abduction ... and there is no official word coming from the kidnappers since they demanded a ($2.5m) ransom in September," it said in a statement.

Australian freelancer Nigel Brennan and his Canadian colleague Amanda Lindhout were kidnapped with a local reporter as they visited camps for families displaced by the violence.

- Reuters