Ethiopia-Somalia Joint forces seize weapons and explosives

By Tesfa-alem Tekle

January 3, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA) — The Somalia transitional government troops and Ethiopian forces on Tuesday seized large amount of weapons and explosives that belonged to terrorists in Mogadishu, SomaliNet reported.

The forces carried out joint operation in which they found the weapons in Dharkenley district, west of the capital early Tuesday, Abdulahi Hassan Barise, the west division police commander told the press.

In a press conference held in Mogadishu after the mission, Hassan said the forces seized the weapons from the insurgent hideout in Dharkenley following skirmish between the police and the armed militants.

“The weapons and the explosives were inside a big water tank which we dug it from a Koranic school in Hoosh village,” said Hassan adding “these are the weapons used for the attacks on the government positions and also here are the explosives used for the assassinations against the innocent civilians and the government officials.”

Abdifitah Ibrahim Shaweye, the deputy mayor of Mogadishu for political affairs, who has also spoken at the press conference, said his government is trying hard to clean all the weapons from the hands of the insurgents in the capital.

“This is part of the disarmament operations by the government to sustain peace in Mogadishu,” he noted.

(ST)