By SALAD DUHUL
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
"Two mortars landed inside the airport and the other outside," said Mohamed.
The runway was not damaged, said the director of the airport.
The attack comes one day after Ethiopian troops, whose military strength was crucial to helping Somalia's government drive out a radical Islamic militia, began withdrawing. The pullout leaves the fledgling government to stand on its own for the first time in this notoriously violent capital.
The intervention of Ethiopia last month prompted a military advance that was a stunning turnaround for Somalia's two-year-old government. Without Ethiopia's tanks and fighter jets, the administration could barely assert control outside one town and couldn't enter the capital, which was ruled by the Council of Islamic Courts.
On Tuesday, Somali government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said Ethiopia helped chase the Islamists from the capital and much of southern Somalia, but that it was time for the neighboring forces to leave.
"As of today, the Ethiopian troops have started to withdraw from Somalia. We are grateful that they played an important role in the restoration of law and order in the country," Dinari said.
But the potential for violence in this chaotic Horn of Africa nation remains great because of clan rivalries, resentment of the government's Ethiopian backers and a threat of guerrilla war from remnants of the Islamic movement.
Many Somalis were angered by the presence of Ethiopian forces; Somalia, a Muslim country, and Ethiopia, which has a large Christian population, fought a brutal war in 1977.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Wednesday that "quite a few" Somali fighters captured by his forces were being held in Ethiopia. He declined to elaborate.
A Somali government soldier said Wednesday that he saw a wounded Islamic official this week being held by Ethiopians in the Somalia city of Kismayo. He said the wounded man was Sheik Ahmed Madobe, governor of the Islamic courts in Kismayo.
"He had injures in one of his legs," said government soldier Deq Ibrahim.
The Ethiopian withdrawal raises a sense of urgency for a proposed African peacekeeping force to arrive quickly.
The African Union Peace and Security Council has approved a plan to send about 8,000 African peacekeepers, including nine infantry battalions, to Somalia for a six-month mission that would eventually be taken over by the U.N. Malawi and Uganda have said they want to contribute troops, but no firm plans are in place.
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AP writers Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu and Les Neuhaus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, contributed to this report.
Source: AP, Jan 24, 2007