MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A Somali gunman opened fire on an Ethiopian military convoy in Mogadishu on Saturday, triggering a heavy shootout that caught civilians in the crossfire and killed at least four people, witnesses said. The attack -- following mortar strikes on the presidential palace on Friday -- was the latest in a guerrilla-style campaign against the Somali government and their Ethiopian military allies who drove Islamists out of the city.Witnesses said that after the Somali attacker began firing with an AK-47, the Ethiopian convoy travelling through north Mogadishu opened up with an anti-aircraft gun. Panicked bystanders fled for cover and a tank ran over a minibus in the bloody melee, they said.
"We were just setting up our shops when this happened," said an injured woman, writhing from bullet wounds in her back at Mogadishu's Medina hospital. "A single gunman opened fire at the Ethiopian convoy, and the Ethiopians returned heavy fire."
Four people died and about a dozen were injured, the witnesses told Reuters, indicating it was civilians who were mainly affected. It was not known if the gunman died.
| And clearly the Aethiop troops don't worry a lot about collateral damage ... |