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Somalia

Chronology: Somalia's conflict since 2004

March 29 (Reuters) - Helicopters pounded rebel positions and tanks rumbled through Mogadishu on Thursday as allied Ethiopian and Somali government troops launched a major push against insurgents. 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, 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.

Sept. 25 - Yusuf escapes a bomb attack that kills five outside parliament in Baidoa.

-- Islamist fighters take over the southern port of Kismayu, Somalia's third largest city.

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

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

Dec. 24 - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says he is waging war against the Islamists to protect his country's sovereignty, 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 city.

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

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

-- U.S. aircraft strike the southern village of Hayo, after it was believed at least one al Qaeda suspect was sheltering there. Ethiopian and Somali troops had chased the Islamists' last remnants to the area.

Jan. 13 - Somalia declares a three-month state of emergency.

Jan. 23 - Ethiopian forces begin leaving Mogadishu.

Feb. 20 - U.N. Security Council authorises an African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission for Somalia for six months.

March 1 - A Ugandan vanguard of an AU peace force to help the interim government flies into Baidoa. Five days later 350 Ugandan troops land at Mogadishu amid heavy fighting.

March 7 - At least nine Somalis are killed when a rocket fired at AU troops hits a restaurant, inflicting the first casualties on the peacekeepers, two of whom were injured.

March 21 - Insurgents drag soldiers' bodies through Mogadishu, during heavy fighting between them and Ethiopian and government forces. At least 16 people are killed.

March 22 - Somalia says al Qaeda has made Aden Hashi Ayro, a militant Islamist commander, its leader in Mogadishu.

March 23 - An Ilyushin plane, in Somalia to assist African peacekeepers, crashes after taking off from Mogadishu. All 11 Belarussians aboard are killed. Belarus said the next day it was brought down by a missile.

March 29 - Ethiopian helicopter gunships fire rockets on insurgents' strongholds in north Mogadishu, the first use of aerial power in the capital. At least 11 civilians are killed.