Ethiopian helicopter shot down in Mogadishu

An Ethiopian attack helicopter was shot down in the Somali capital of Mogadishu as it was bombarding targets in the city on Friday, a witness said.

Faisal Omar told Xinhua that he saw the helicopter being hit by a rocket fired from the ground.

"The helicopter started to smoke very heavily after the rocket hit it in the middle. It began to fall down," Omar said. "There was another one, but it escaped unharmed."

According to Dahir Dere at Medina hospital, eight civilians were killed and 24 others were wounded Friday as heavy shelling have resumed in the Somali capital after Thursday's fierce fighting between Hawiye clan insurgents and the Somali government forces backed by Ethiopian soldiers claimed the lives of nearly 30 people and wounded more than 100 people, most of them civilians.

"At this particular hospital, Medina, we have eight dead and 24 wounded people. But people are being taken to different hospitals in Mogadishu and the number could be more than that," Dahir told Xinhua by phone from the hospital.

The latest violence came only a week after a ceasefire signed between Hawiye clan elders and Ethiopian troops led to a relative calm in the restive Somali capital.

The Somali government has pledged to pacify the city in time for the national reconciliation congress to be held in Mogadishu on April 16.

The Somali Parliament based in Baidoa, a town 250 km south of Mogadishu, has voted unanimously to relocate the cabinet to Mogadishu earlier this month.

Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former ruler Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another, throwing the country into anarchy.

The transitional government was formed in 2004 with UN help, but has little authority across the country because it has no real army or police force.

Source: Xinhua