Ethiopian troops re-enter parts of Somalia

Sunday, February 07, 2010



Mogadishu, Somalia (APA) - Heavily armed Ethiopian troops have occupied parts of the northern regions of Bakool and Hiiraan near the border with Somalia, local residents confirmed Sunday.

Residents in the city of Elbarde in the Bakool region just bordering with Ethiopia said that the heavily armed Ethiopian troops accompanied by hundreds of Somali military trained in Ethiopia have occupied the city early Sunday morning.

“The troops made house-to house search in the city and arrested some suspects and still they are in the city and surrounding areas,” a resident in Elbarde Madey Isaq told APA by phone.

Although residents confirmed the arrival of Ethiopian-Somali forces in the city, Somali government officials denied any Ethiopian troops presence in Elbarde, a small city near the border with Ethiopia

Spokesman for Somali government administration in the region Aden Mohamed Nur told reporters that not a single Ethiopian soldier was in the city Sunday that only Somali government forces bloodlessly recaptured the city.

“The troops who have been doing the search operations in the city since early morning are Somali government forces trained in Ethiopia, I can confirm that a single Ethiopian is not in the city,” Aden Added.

Meanwhile, reports from the Sariirale village in the Hiiraan region indicate that hundreds of Ethiopian solders arrived and set up positions in the area early on Sunday morning.

Ethiopia pulled its forces out of Somalia early last year after enduing a two year-military operation in Somalia where they assisted Somali government to destroy the administration of Islamic courts Union by December 2006.