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Ethiopia - Somali gunmen kill 2 Ethiopian troops

BAIDOA, Somalia (Reuters) - Suspected Somali insurgents killed two Ethiopian soldiers in the southern town of Baidoa on Wednesday, residents said.

Baidoa is the seat of Somalia's parliament. Businesses in the centre halted as dozens of government soldiers, who are backed by the Ethiopian military, began searching pedestrians, vehicles and shops for weapons.

"Men armed with pistols shot dead two Ethiopian troops in the centre of town this morning," witness Abdulqadir Mohamed said. "The bodies lay in the street for nearly half an hour."

A Reuters reporter saw Ethiopian soldiers arrest five men.

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Afar Ethiopia Photo BBC

Ethiopia - Kidnap drama targeting tourists near Hamed Illa foiled

Source: ENA

A kidnap attempt by Sha'ebia intruders on Wednesday at a spot between Hamed Illa and Dalul areas of the Afar Regional State in Ethiopia has been foiled, the joint anti-terror task force of the national intelligence, security service and the federal police disclosed.

It is to be recalled that Sha'ebia has been perpetrating blatant acts of terror, including the kidnap of foreign nationals and Ethiopians at Hamed Illa in March last year, who were released after days in detention in Eritrea.

In a repeat of the same act of terrorism, at around 11:00 a.m. today, the intruders of the government in Asmara sneaked into a tourist site between Hamed Illa and Dalul in the eastern part of Ethiopia near the border with Eritrea and tried to kidnap a group of foreign tourists - but this time without any success.

The kidnap attempt targeted at about 28 foreign tourists was foiled in a defensive measure taken by police installed to guard tourists to the area. The tourists were walking to the site, when the abductors opened fire at their vehicles.

All the 28 tourists, many of them are French citizens, are totally safe except the bullet holes rendered to their vehicles by the intruders.

In an immediate response, the members of the army came to the area and took the rescued tourists to Hamad Illa.

Afar, Ethiopia Photo BBC

Ethiopia says stops kidnap of 28 French tourists

ADDIS ABABA, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Ethiopia said on Wednesday security forces had stopped soldiers from neighbouring Eritrea abducting 28 French tourists in its remote northern Afar region.

"An attempt by Eritrean forces to abduct 28 French tourists in the Afar region has been foiled by Ethiopian security forces," a police statement read on state TV said.

An Ethiopian official was hurt by gunfire, but the French tourists were fine and taken to a local tourist facility, it said. "They are in a safe condition," the statement said.


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Obama wins 9th straight in Wisconsin

“Houston, I think we achieved liftoff here,”
Mr. Obama told a crowd of 20,000 people in that city as he hailed the voters of Wisconsin.

Senator Barack Obama decisively beat Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday night, accelerating his momentum ahead of crucial primaries in Ohio and Texas and cutting into Mrs. Clinton’s support among women and union members.


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