1 killed during Somalia weapons search

Ethiopian troops conducting a house-to-house search for weapons opened fire Monday, killing one civilian, after gunmen threw hand grenades at soldiers, witnesses said.

Somalia's fragile government has tried a voluntary program to get arms out of the hands of civilians. But the program has not had much success in a city torn by anarchy and bloodshed in the past 16 years.

"Ethiopians opened fire. I saw one dead woman who had a small shop in the area," said resident Mohamed Osman Abdi.

Increasingly, the capital seems seized by Iraq-style guerrilla war. Islamic militants vowed to wage an insurgency when they were toppled in December by Ethiopian troops supporting the government.

Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991 when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other. The government was formed in 2004 with the help of the United Nations, but has struggled to assert any real control.

Earlier Monday, soldiers searched for weapons at HornAfrik Radio station, officials said. The station has drawn the ire of Somalia's government in the past.

"They for checked weapons everywhere in our compound and left after they finished the operation," said Zeinab Abukar, a HornAfrik host.

Mahad Mohamed Ilmi, a HornAfrik editor, said that the soldiers searched in the studio as a journalist was on air.

Abukar said that the soldiers did not interrupt any programs or any other operations of HornAfrik. The government closed HornAfrik and two other radio stations briefly in June and January.