19/09/08 (B466) AFP / Les forces armées éthiopiennes tuent 4 personnes après une collision avec un véhicule civil et la Police / Ethiopian forces kill four in Somalia: police (En Anglais – Info lecteur)

Ethiopian forces on Thursday killed four people in a southern Somalia town after their pick-up truck collided with a civilian vehicle, police and witnesses said.

Somali police confirmed four people had been killed in Baidoa, 250 kilometres (155 miles) northwest of the capital Mogadishu.

« I am not sure how it happened, but it’s true that four civilians were shot dead near Unaye intersection, » said Hussein Ali, a Somali police official.

A witness said the civilian truck collided with the Ethiopian vehicle after its brakes failed.

The Ethiopian army rolled into Somalia in 2006 at the request of the embattled transitional government. They ousted an Islamist militia which controlled large parts of the Horn of Africa country.

The Islamists have reverted to guerilla warfare and have been targeting Somali government forces, Ethiopian troops and African Union peacekeepers almost daily.