Africa
Ethiopia soldiers slay nomads as they vacate Somalia town: witnesses
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May 8, 2008 - 6:18:29 PM

MARKA, Somalia May 8 (Garowe Online) - At least 10 dead bodies were discovered Wednesday morning in southern Somalia after Ethiopian troops escaped an insurgent ambush yesterday, leaving behind a grisly scene of deaths.

The bodies were found in Wanla Weyn, a district in Lower Shabelle region, according to locals.

Muktar Robow "Abu Mansur," a spokesman for the al Shabaab guerrillas, claimed responsibility for the ambush, saying that insurgents burned three of the Ethiopian army's military trucks.

Locals said yesterday's gunfight erupted with three separate explosions hitting an Ethiopian military convoy on its way to Baidoa, an inland city that serves as a key military base.

The Ethiopian soldiers and insurgents then engaged in face-to-face combat where machineguns and rockets were used, witnesses reported.

Ali Moallim Ahmed, a Wanla Weyn resident, told Garowe Online: "The bodies were found early this morning when we woke up and they [bodies] included nomads who are well-known."

Other witnesses said most of the dead bodies were young men, some of whom were captured alive and later "shot to death" or had their "throats slit."

The descriptions of the gruesome killings could not be independently verified, but the allegations against the Ethiopian soldiers follow an Amnesty International report condemning the soldiers for widespread atrocities.

Source: Garowe Online