Somali insurgents target seat of parliament

Ethiopian troops backing Somalia's government opened fire killing nine civilians on today, after being targeted by insurgents in the central town of Baidoa where parliament sits, residents said.

The shots were fired after Islamist-led insurgents detonated a landmine targeting an Ethiopian foot patrol. It was the second attack targeting the allied forces in a week, and exposed the interim government's inability to secure law and order in even its biggest stronghold.

Lawmakers said the security risk posed by the al-Shabaab military wing of a sharia courts movement ousted at the end of 2006 had forced several of them to flee the trading outpost where parliament meets in a former grain storehouse.

Baidoa's governor Abdifatah Mohamed Ibrahim said the attacks in Baidoa seven this month had seriously hampered security in the town despite the large presence of Ethiopian soldiers.

Al-Shabaab on US terrorist list
Meanwhile Al-Shabaab which is on a US list of terrorist organisations, claimed responsibility for today's attack on a website commonly used by militants in Somalia. It said five Ethiopian troops were killed in the attack and vowed to step up assaults against what it sees as an “occupation force.”

Al-Shabaab also said its militants also executed a senior military official in Beletweyne, north of the capital on Wednesday, while two of their fighters died in the capital Mogadishu in battles with government forces.

Analysts say such attacks are aimed at instilling fear among lawmakers to stop them from carrying out their duties. They said the strategy is also to weaken government troops and their Ethiopian allies before a major attack anytime soon.

Civilians have borne the brunt of the conflict, which a local rights group says killed 6 500 civilians in Somalia last year. Many fear being caught in between gunmen waging an Iraqi-style insurgency of assassinations and roadside bombings and retaliatory fire from the Somali-Ethiopian troops. – Reuters