SOMALI CAR BAN 'TO STOP BOMBERS' !

The government blames Islamists for the bombings. Somalia's weak Baidoa-based transitional government is to ban cars travelling from Islamist-held Mogadishu after two recent car bombings. Government officials say the ban will come into effect on Tuesday.
"I think taking such a decision is the only solution to boost our security," Baidoa official Ahmed Maddey Issak told the AFP news agency.
The 250km Mogadishu-Baidoa road is peppered with checkpoints amid fears of a war involving neighbouring Ethiopia.
The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says the move is unlikely to affect trade as other vehicles will still be able to travel between the two cities.
The government blame Islamists, who it accuses of links to al-Qaeda, for last week's bombing in which some nine people died and a September assassination attempt on President Abdullahi Yusuf.

TIMELINE

30 Nov 2006: Ethiopia's parliament authorises all legal and necessary steps against any invasion by the UIC
27 Nov 2006: UIC accuse Ethiopian forces of shelling Bandiradley
Oct 2006: Ethiopian's PM says Ethiopia is "technically at war" with the UIC
Sept 2006: Somalia's president survives an assassination attempt
July 2006: Ethiopian troops cross into Somalia
June 2006: UIC takes control of Mogadishu
1996: Ethiopian forces defeat Islamist fighters in Somali town of Luuq
1964 and 1977: Wars fought over Ethiopia's Ogaden region

Timeline: Ethiopia vs Somalia

The government says the cars were driven by suicide bombers but this has not been independently verified.
The Islamists deny any links to the bombings, or to al-Qaeda.
In Mogadishu, Islamist leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys warned the UN Security Council not to approve plans to send foreign peacekeepers to Somalia or risk starting a major conflict.
He was speaking to thousands of people, some of whom were carrying anti-Western placards.
A regional grouping of African states, Igad, has now backed the proposal in principle, with the African Union also offering support.
When he was elected two years ago, President Yusuf asked for foreign troops to bolster his position.
The UIC strongly opposes any foreign presence on Somali soil, as do several members of Igad, including Sudan.
Direct talks between Ethiopia and senior representatives of the Union of Islamic Courts, who control most of southern Somalia, were held in Djibouti on Sunday in an attempt to avert all-out war.
Islamists have pledged to force Ethiopian troops out of Somalia.
The Ethiopians admit only to having military trainers in the country in support of the interim government.

BBC NEWS REPORT.