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Chronology of Somalia's collapse, conflict
11 Jan 2007 14:31:00 GMT
Source: Reuters

Jan 11 (Reuters) - A U.S. air strike on Somalia on Jan. 8 killed up to 10 al Qaeda-affiliated "terrorists", but three of the most wanted suspects survived, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.

Here is a chronology of recent events in Somalia:

Oct. 2004 - In 14th attempt since 1991 to restore central government, lawmakers elect Ethiopian-backed warlord Abdullahi Yusuf as president. In December, new Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi swears in 27 ministers in Kenya.

Feb. 2006 - Lawmakers arrive in the southern city of Baidoa for the first meeting of the country's parliament on home soil.

June 2006 - The Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) seizes the capital Mogadishu from U.S.-backed warlords and takes control of parts of southern Somalia. The interim government and the SICC recognise each other in their first direct talks in Sudan.

Sept. 25, 2006 - The president escapes a bomb attack that kills five outside parliament in Baidoa.

-- Islamist fighters take over the southern port of Kismayo, Somalia's third largest city, effectively flanking the Baidoa-based government on three sides.

Oct. 9 - Islamists declare holy war against Ethiopia, which they accuse of invading Somalia to help the government.

Nov. 30 - Ethiopia's parliament votes to let its government take necessary steps to rebuff any invasion by the Islamists.

Dec. 7 - The U.N. Security Council passes a resolution endorsing African peacekeepers for Somalia.

Dec. 12 - Islamists tell Ethiopia to leave Somalia within seven days or face war. Fighting starts on Dec. 19 following the end of the deadline.

Dec. 24 - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says he is waging war against the Islamists to protect his country's sovereignty, in Ethiopia's first public admission of military involvement in Somalia.

Dec. 28 - Islamists flee Mogadishu ahead of a joint Ethiopian and Somali government force which captures the capital.

Dec. 31 - Somali Prime Minister Gedi enters Mogadishu.

Jan. 1, 2007 - Islamists abandon defences at Kismayu.

Jan 5 - Ethiopia's Meles says his country will pull its troops out of Somalia within two weeks.

-- Western and African diplomats meet in Nairobi to discuss sending regional peacekeepers and more aid to Somalia.

Jan. 8 - President Abdullahi Yusuf arrives in Mogadishu for the first time since he became president in 2004.

-- U.S. aircraft strike the southern village of Hayo in the hunt for an al Qaeda cell accused of bombing two U.S. embassies in 1998 and an Israeli-owned hotel in 2002.

Jan. 11 - The United States says that up to 10 al Qaeda suspects were killed in the air strike on Hayo but three of the most wanted suspects have survived.
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A group of Somali women watch departing Ethiopian troops in Jowhar, some 50km (30 miles) northwest of Mogadishu, January 25, 2007. Ethiopian soldiers started to pull out of Somalia to make way for a proposed African Union force of nearly 8,000 troops, which is still being put together.