afrol News, 4 July - Ethiopian troops have allegedly killed 71 Islamists insurgents in central Somalia in deadly clashes this week, a defense ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Islamist insurgents are said to have ambushed an Ethiopian army convoy traveling from Guri El near the Ethiopian border to Mataban, about 450 kilometres north of the capital Mogadishu.

"In a joint operation with Somali forces that started on June 30 around Guri El, 71 terrorists from the UIC and Shabeb were killed," the statement added.

The fighting said to be the deadliest in recent months after the signing of Djibouti peace accord came a week prior to a deadline for the implementation of a truce agreement signed by rival factions last month.

Islamists insurgents have been waging an 18-month insurgency on Somali Transitional government since Ethiopian troops assisted Somali troops to oust Union of Islamic Courts, which was ruling larger portion of the country in 2006.

However, rebel spokesman Sheikh Abdirahim Issa Adow said Ethiopian State Agency fabricated their story, saying his group killed many Ethiopians and burnt their military vehicles yet Ethiopia did not admit to it.

"Ethiopians claimed to have killed Colonel Abdi Ahmed, who we do not know," Mr Adow said adding that no government soldier was involved in the fighting.

The Islamist group "Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia" signed a three-month ceasefire pact last moth with the government that provided for Ethiopian troops to withdraw from Somali within 120 days from the signing of the pact.

The African Union has deployed some 2,600 peacekeepers in Mogadishu but the contingent on the ground still falls far short of the 8,000 troops pledged by the continental body and has failed to stem the violence.

Somalia's transitional administration was formed in 2004 with the help of the United Nations, but has failed to assert real control. After Islamic militants seized control of Mogadishu and most of southern Somalia, the government called in troops from Ethiopia in December 2006 to oust them.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew Dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and turned on each other. Thousands of civilians have been killed in Somalia since 2007, caught in vicious disputes over ancient clan loyalties, religion and government.

By staff writer

© afrol News

Related pages and feature

Current afrol News Top Stories