Four
civilians were killed in two separate incidents Tuesday in
Somalia's capital Mogadishu, where Ethiopian-backed
government forces are battling Islamist insurgents,
witnesses told AFP.
Armed
men shot dead two civilians suspected of selling goods to
Ethiopian troops in the southern neighbourhood of Aymiska,
witnesses said.
"I know
one of them is a trader and the two men were shot dead on
their way to the Ethiopian forces' base near Arafat by three
armed men," local resident Husein Adan Yahye said. "They
used to sell things to the Ethiopians."
Mohamed
Adado, an eyewitness, told AFP that the men were stopped and
questioned before they were shot in the head. "They were
each shot twice after being questioned but I don't know what
they were asked," he said.
In
another incident in the northern neighbourhood of Afar-Darjin,
a roadside bomb blast struck a bus, killing two civilians
and wounding four, including a pregnant woman, witnesses
said.
"The
pregnant woman lost a leg," said Ahmed Yusuf, who was on the
same bus but survived the explosion.
"I was
in the back seat of the bus when it blew up and everyone was
shocked but fortunately the explosion destroyed only the
front part," he told AFP.
Warsame
Ali, another eyewitness who sells groceries in the area,
said the roadside bomb was likely aimed at a government
vehicle that had passed just seconds earlier.
Both
witnesses said two bodies had been retrieved from the
wreckage.
Civilians have borne the brunt of almost daily fighting in
Mogadishu between Ethiopia-backed government forces and the
remnants of an Islamist militia that briefly controlled
large parts of the country at the end of 2006.
Hundreds
of civilians have since been killed and thousands driven
from their homes.
The
troubled Horn of Africa nation has been plagued by civil
unrest since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre,
and defied numerous peace initiatives.
