Roadside bomb targets Ethiopian forces in Somalia

MOGADISHU, May 30 (Reuters) A roadside bomb blast rocked a convoy carrying Ethiopian troops in a central Somali town today, but it was not immediately clear if there were any casualties, witnesses said.

Baladwayne resident Osman Adan said he could see thick black smoking billowing from the site of the explosion, which he said was caused by a remote-controlled landmine.

''An Ethiopian truck was blown up. ... The Ethiopian troops immediately opened fire indiscriminately with heavy machine-guns ... I do not know if any soldiers were wounded or killed,'' he said, adding that two civilians were hurt in the shooting.

Ethiopian soldiers cordoned off the area after the blast and were searching homes in nearby streets, he said.

Insurgents from an ousted militant Islamist movement have increasingly adopted the tactics of Iraqi guerrillas since the interim Somali government and its Ethiopian allies forced them out of the capital Mogadishu in December after a brief war.

Most attacks have been taken place in the seaside city.

On Monday, a senior court official from Baladwayne was killed by gunmen in Mogadishu. His funeral was to take place today in the town, 300 km north of the capital.

The rebels have struck government buildings, convoys and Ugandan peacekeepers patrolling under an African Union mandate.

President Abdullahi Yusuf's government is struggling to impose central rule on the Horn of Africa nation, in anarchy since warlords kicked out dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

REUTERS GL HS1439