Somali PM says there will be more air strikes

Meles says the US had struck only once in Somali, and no civilians had been killed in the air attack

Ali Mohamed Ghedi, Somalia's interim prime minister, said that the air strikes will continue after a Somali government source and a local lawmaker said US planes struck several sites yesterday after an assault on Monday against a village where the suspects were thought to be hiding.

"That area is a safe haven for international terrorists," he said in an interview with a British TV channel.

Residents awake to gunfire
Residents in Mogadishu were woken by gunfire before dawn yesterday in an area housing Ethiopian and Somali troops. The troops were also targeted in a rocket attack on Tuesday.

In the latest in a series of small attacks on Ethiopian troops, another rocket-propelled grenade fired at an Ethiopian military truck in Mogadishu yesterday hit a Somali family home injuring two. It was not clear who carried out the attack.

No serious violence in Mogadishu: Zenawi
Meanwhile, Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian prime minister, said there had been no serious violence in Mogadishu since Ethiopian troops had arrived. "There is no sign of significant violence in Mogadishu at all. As I said earlier, not one Ethiopian soldier has either been wounded or killed in Mogadishu since our army intervened, not one."

Speaking at a news conference, Meles said international Jihadists had been attracted to Somalia because of the lawless environment, and had been there for many years.

Ethiopia sent thousands of troops across the border last month to oust Islamists who had held sway over most of southern Somalia, including the capital Mogadishu, for six months and threatened to overrun the weak government in its base of Baidoa. - Reuters