Top Woyanne commander killed in Somalia

(PressTV) — Top commander of Ethiopian Woyanne forces in Somalia has been gunned down by unidentified insurgents in the war-torn country’s capital Mogadishu.

The Ethiopian Woyanne military leader was shot in the head by unknown gunmen from a building in the vicinity of the Bakara market in central Mogadishu, a government official told Press TV on Sunday.

The riled Ethiopian Woyanne troops leveled the building to the ground. Whether any of the insurgents have been killed remains unknown.

Ethiopian Woyanne troops are said to be in a state of shock and confusion over their leader’s death.

The report added that more than 50 Ethiopian Woyannen soldiers have also been killed in clashes with heavily armed rebels near the Somali Presidential Palace on the same day.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Hassan Haad, the chairman of the Hawiye clan — the largest and most powerful clan in Somalia — condemned Sunday’s Bakara market attack which left 40 civilians dead and 123 others critically wounded, blaming the Ethiopian troops and Somali government forces for the tragic event.

“Hostility actions from the Ethiopian Woyanne and the so-called Somali government soldiers are not acceptable,” Haad said.

“The Ethiopians Woyannes have killed uncountable number of civilians and they are the daily problem of Somalis. They are committing genocide and the Hwiye clan cannot accept that,” he stressed.

EDITOR’S NOTE: What a great news to start the week with.

More from VOA about Woyanne’s attack on Bakara Market >>

12 Killed in Mogadishu Clashes, Mostly Civilians

(VOA News) — Witnesses in Somalia’s capital say at least 12 people have been killed in artillery battles between Ethiopian Woyanne-backed government troops and Islamist insurgents.

Residents say the fighting began Sunday after insurgents attacked Ethiopian Woyanne and Somali government soldiers as they tried to conduct raids in Mogadishu’s Bakara Market.

Witnesses say most of the dead were civilians, killed by Ethiopian Woyanne mortar shells fired into the market.

The French news agency quotes a man as saying he saw the bodies of three Somali soldiers and one insurgent in the nearby Hararyale neighborhood.

Bakara has been the scene of many battles during the 17-month insurgency.

The fighting has killed thousands of Somalis and driven more than a million from their homes.

The insurgency began in early 2007, soon after government and Ethiopian Woyanne troops pushed an Islamist movement from power in Mogadishu and other Somali cities.

The United Nations recently initiated peace talks in Djibouti between the government and exiled insurgent leaders. But a key opposition group has ruled out holding direct talks with the government until it sets a timetable for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops.