26/08/08 (B462) Press TV / Une bombe tue 8 soldats somaliens. / Landmine blast kills 8 Somali soldiers

Mohammed Osman Ali Dhagah-tuur

Eight soldiers have died after their vehicle hit a landmine on the street leading to Aden Adde Airport in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

The remotely-controlled landmine went off on Monday near the UNDP Headquarters on the road leading to the Airport destroying a Somali Government army vehicle and killing more that eight soldiers on board, eyewitnesses told the Press TV correspondent in Southern Mogadishu.

Minutes after the explosion Somali troops stormed the area and began arresting and looting the people. They arrested more that 30 people there.

In another development, the interim mayor of Mogadishu Mohammed Osman Ali Dhagah-tuur today denounced the abduction of two foreign journalists by unknown gunmen on Saturday, in the Horn of Africa nation.

He told the media that the freelance reporters should be released without conditions.

Former Press TV correspondent Amanda Lindhout and Australian photographer Nigel Brennan along with their translator and driver were reportedly stopped by armed men. It is still unknown who kidnapped the two or what their motive may have been.

The abduction of the two highlights the dangers faced by journalists and humanitarian workers operating in one of the poorest and most violent countries in the world.

Somalia has been wracked by violence and political instability ever since Ethiopian forces, backed by the United States, ousted the de facto Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) government in December 2006.

Under the UIC, Somalia was widely seen to be recovering after years of being run by US-backed warlords.