25/09/08 (B466-B) Shabelle / Une forte explosion, perçue dans toute la ville, atteint un contingent « à pied’ des forces éthiopiennes d’occupation en Somalie. Aucune victime civile n’aurait été signalée, en dépit du fait que les soldats éthiopiens aient immédiatement ouvert le feu. Explosion on Ethiopian Troops in Mogadishu – Witnesses (En Anglais – Info lecteur)

An explosion has hit Ethiopian marching troops in Mogadishu on Thursday witnesses have said.

The blast was heard in greater parts of Mogadishu.

Eyewitness Mohamed Bishar told Shabelle that on the occasion the bomb went off wan an Ethiopian army pedestal.

"A roadside bomb occurred as the Ethiopians were walking and at Maka Almukarramah street, I could see wounded soldiers being loaded into Ural vehicle" said Mohamed Bishar.

"They opened fire indiscriminately after the explosion, but it caused no human causalities," he added.

Another witness Liban Kule said: "We don’t know who planted it. The Ethiopians entered a neighbourhood near where the explosion occured, and they arrested several people.

Its yet unknown the exact the causalities of the blast on Ethiopian troops on that incident.

Roadside bombs are common in Somalia, where Islamist fighters are battling Ethiopian forces who backed government troops to oust an their movement in early 2007.

Ethiopian troops are supporting the Somali transitional government in its fight against the Islamist insurgency.

More than Eighteen months of fighting has killed thousands of Somalis and displaced hundreds of thousands more, most of them from Mogadishu.

The Islamists also targeted government forces and African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu.

Somalia has been shattered by deadly conflicts which have defied numerous attempts to restore peace since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Bare.