THE OTHER DAY it was Ceuta, today it's Melilla, the other Spanish city in Northern Africa:

Hundreds of desperate African immigrants rushed guard posts surrounding the Spanish enclave of Melilla, and the official Moroccan news agency reported Thursday that six Africans were killed in clashes with Moroccan security services.

The MAP agency, citing Abdellah Bendhiba, the governor of Nador province, said the Africans were killed overnight during a "violent" run by 400 immigrants on guard posts.

Security services responded in self-defense, the report said, adding that 290 people were arrested.

"During this assault, the clandestines displayed exceptional violence, obliging the security services to respond in the framework of legitimate defense," the report cited the governor as saying. "Unfortunately, six of the assailants died."

The report did not elaborate.

It looks more and more like it's Morocco trying to 'convince' Spain to leave these two cities they have longed for for a few decades, by creating trouble there. Of course, they count on Zapatero, the man of peace who withdrew from Iraq, and Bono, his defense minister who prefers to be killed than to kill.

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