Somalia: Troops search homes for weapons
Somali and Ethiopian troops launched house-to-house searches this morning in Mogadishu in pursuit of gunmen who had carried out an attack in the north-eastern part of the city, residents said.
Gunmen attacked Ethiopian and government troops last night in Hurwa district.
Four rocket propelled grenades were fired at the convoy of troops, destroying one military vehicle and triggering a 30-minute gunbattle, residents said.
“Residents in Hurwa district have stopped sending their children to school as businesses and schools were closed,” said Shine Moalim Hussein, a resident in the district.
“Ethiopians and Somali troops are carrying out house-to-house searches.”
No official casualty figures were available.
The Ethiopian and Somali troops occupied a water treatment plant, a worker in the plant said.
On Sunday, an African Union delegation was in Somalia’s capital to discuss the deployment of international peacekeepers as the government expanded a house-to-house search for weapons in a one of the world’s most dangerous and heavily armed cities.
Mohamed Foum, the AU’s special representative for Somalia, said nine delegates arrived for meetings with the government in the African nation.
