MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Somali government troops and their Ethiopian allies sprayed bystanders with gunfire in response to two separate bomb attacks, killing at least 40 people Friday, witnesses said. The killings, which could not be independently confirmed, occurred a day before the president and his estranged prime minister are to hold talks amid a protracted power struggle between them that has complicated efforts to end Somalia's expanding Islamic insurgency.One man said Somali government forces opened fire after two explosions went off near the president's convoy as it was traveling to the Mogadishu airport. Farah Daud said his father and four others were killed.
In a separate incident, a witness said Ethiopian soldiers opened fire indiscriminately on the road between the capital, Mogadishu, and Afgoye after roadside bombs targeted their convoy. Witness Ali Jama said he counted 35 dead. A woman who fled the scene with her two children said she believe there were more than 30 bodies in the street. "Ethiopian convoys opened fire into different areas where thousands of displaced people were living; they killed everyone on the road," Sahra Nor Osma said.
The witnesses' accounts could not be verified Friday with Somali officials, the insurgency or Ethiopian military officials.