Mortars fired at Ethiopian troops in Somalia

Mogadishu, Jan 27: Attackers fired four mortar bombs at an Ethiopian camp near Mogadishu overnight, in the latest attack on the newly victorious government's strongest allies.

It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed in the attack, which took place in Darmoley, 10 km north of the seaside capital.

The strike follows a series of guerrilla-style assaults on government and Ethiopian troops since they routed Islamist fighters in a two-week war over Christmas and New Year, and seized Mogadishu and the rest of south Somalia.

''An unknown gunmen carried out four mortar attacks aimed at an Ethiopian base in Darmoley. I have no information of any wounded or dead,'' a government source told Reuters by telephone.

Meanwhile, police were interrogating a man over a mortar strike on Mogadishu international airport on Wednesday that injured five people.

''The police have arrested a man suspected to have been behind the attack on the airport. They are questioning him,'' government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said.

Many suspect hardcore remnants of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) are behind the attacks, but there are many enemies of the government including warlord and clan militias plus criminals -- all armed with military-class weapons.

Dinari also said 23 people, including senior Islamist officials he did not identify, were flown into Mogadishu after having been over to the government by Kenyan authorities, who arrested them attempting to cross the border.

Many fear a slide back to the anarchy Somalia has suffered since warlords ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

President Abdullahi Yusuf's interim government, formed at peace talks in Kenya in late 2004, is the 14th attempt to end the mayhem since 1991.

But it only set foot in the capital on December. 29, with Ethiopian air power and armour at its back, and faces a huge task to tame the city.

It has asked for peacekeeping troops, and the African Union has backed a force of almost 8,000 to replace the withdrawing Ethiopian soldiers, hated by many Somalis because the two nations have been rivals in the Horn of Africa for a millennium.

Uganda, Malawi and Nigeria have pledged troops, while South Africa and Rwanda have ruled out deploying. Mozambique and others are considering contributing.

REUTERS