Paris AFP (in English) 1703 GMT

Nairobi — The Somali Embassy here charged Monday that Kenyan forces had opened fire first in last week’s border clash which saw four Kenyan policemen killed and four badly wounded.

The embassy said Somali Army units were last Wednesday on a search and destroy operation against bandits and poachers at Liboi, a border village.

The bandits fled from the Somali side of the village to its Kenyan side, “whereupon Kenyan security forces opened an escape route for them while firing at the Somali forces.”

“The fire was returned and it is possible that this may have unfortunately resulted in some casualties,” the embassy said.

_{FBIS-AFR-89-185, 26 Sept. 1989, pp. 11-12}