A roadside bomb killed eight Somali government soldiers and wounded six others when it tore through a convoy in the central town of Baidoa today, witnesses said.
Islamist insurgents from the al Shabaab militia who are battling the interim government and its Ethiopian military allies had vowed to retaliate after a US air strike killed their leader last week.
Witness Abdiqadir Aden said the blast destroyed one military vehicle as the convoy drove into Baidoa from a nearby army camp. Baidoa is the seat of Somalia's parliament.
"The roadside bomb killed eight government troops, including their unit leader, and wounded six others," Aden said.
A nurse at Baidoa Hospital said doctors were fighting to save the lives of the other soldiers hit by the explosion.
"The death toll might rise because they are in critical condition," said Musdaf Ali, the nurse.
The al Shabaab is the militant wing of a sharia courts group that ruled much of southern Somalia for six months in 2006 before being ousted by allied Somali-Ethiopian troops.
Since then they have been at the forefront of an Iraq-style insurgency targeting the government with assassinations, mortar strikes and roadside bombs.
The group vowed to retaliate after their leader, Aden Hashi Ayro, thought to be al Qaeda's leader in Somalia, was killed in a US air strike a week ago.