Somali gunmen attack Ethiopian troops -govt source

MOGADISHU, Jan 15 (Reuters) Somali gunmen attacked a convoy of Ethiopian soldiers in Mogadishu late yesterday, and fighting ensued for half an hour, a Somali government source said today.

''An Ethiopian convoy was hit near Arafat hospital. One of their trucks was hit and burnt,'' the source said referring to a hospital in a northern Mogadishu neighbourhood where government and Ethiopian troops had searched houses for weapons on Sunday.

''Thirty minutes of heavy fighting followed. There are deaths on both sides but I don't have numbers.'' REUTERS SY HT1052