Five people were killed and 10 others wounded when a battle wagon truck hit a landmine near Tiyaglow town in Somalia's southern Bakol region, officials said Monday.
The officials said the truck, equipped with anti-aircraft weapons and on its way to Baidoa, rode over the landmine late on Sunday.
The destroyed war-truck belonged to the Rahawein Resistance Army (RRA) faction, which controls southern Somalia's Bay and Bakol regions, of which Baidoa is the largest city.
It was not immediately clear whether the landmine was planted during fighting which pitted the RRA and supporters of warlord Hussein Mohamed Aidid between 1995 and 1999, or planted during fresh hostilities that erupted in Tiyaglow at the weekend.
On Saturday, nine people were killed and seven wounded after the RRA clashed with forces loyal to speaker of the new Somali transitional parliament, Abdallah Derrow Issak.
Issak, who was chased from Tiyaglow on Saturday, vowed not to return to the Somali capital Mogadishu before he regains control of the Bakol region.
He fled to the neighboring Hiran region, where he said he was organizing transitional government forces for the mission.
Thousands of landmines have been planted throughout Somalia by former government forces of president Mohamed Siad Barre, overthrown in 1991, and ever since by other warlords who have been battling for control of the war-devastated Horn of Africa nation -- MOGADISHU (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
