08/05/08 (B446-B) Press TV : A moins 33 soldats éthiopiens ont perdu la vie dans des récents accrochages en Somalie. – Fresh Somali clashes leave 33 dead (En Anglais – Info lecteur)

At least twenty-six Ethiopian soldiers have been killed in fresh clashes with armed insurgents in Hiiran district of central Somalia.

Anti-government insurgents attacked a convoy of Ethiopian troops, heading to Kalaber checkpoint, near the town of Helgan, a Press TV correspondent reported Wednesday.

All the military vehicles were destroyed during the exchange of fire.

Elsewhere, at least seven Somali soldiers were killed and more than ten others injured in southern Mogadishu when their vehicles hit land mines in Medina district.

Somalia has been without an effective central government since President Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991.

Ethiopian troops came to support Somalia’s embattled transitional government in late 2006. The following year they defeated insurgents, who had taken control of large parts of the country in south and central Somalia.

The Remaining rebels have since waged a deadly guerrilla war against the government as well as allied Ethiopian forces and African Union peacekeepers.