Date:21/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/21/stories/2008042160631800.htm

International

81 killed in clashes

MOGADISHU: Sporadic street fighting between Ethiopian troops and Islamist fighters trying to bring down Somalia’s shaky government has killed 81 persons in the past two days, said the head of a local human rights group on Sunday. Sunday’s clashes broke out in rubble-strewn streets still littered with the uncollected bodies of the dead from the previous day’s violence. Ethiopian troops supporting the transitional government’s soldiers come under daily attack from the Islamist fighters they chased from power in the capital in December 2006. The Islamists receive support from Ethiopia’s archenemy, Eritrea. — AP