MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Islamic militia who have increased control of Somalia’s
capital in fighting that has killed some 330 people pressed their campaign north
of Mogadishu on Thursday in a bid to build on their gains.
The latest battleground in the third and fiercest bout of fighting since the
turn of the year between militia linked to Islamic courts and a self-styled
anti-terrorism coalition of warlords was north of Mogadishu toward the town of
Balad.
“It’s an open terrain, many must have been killed, but I don’t know how many
have died and are wounded so far,” Ibrahim Mallim, a coalition militiaman, told
Reuters by telephone.
Balad is controlled by a warlord from the Alliance for the Restoration of
Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT).
Founded early this year, it is widely believed to have received funding from
the U.S. government.
Although also fueled by commercial and political motives, the fighting in and
around Mogadishu is seen by many Somalis as a proxy war between Islamists and
Washington. Residents say it has involved some of the worst violence ever seen
in Mogadishu.
The warlords say the Islamic militia, grouped around sharia courts which keep
a semblance of order in the otherwise anarchic capital, include al Qaeda-linked
militants and want to establish a hardline Muslim state in the Horn of Africa
nation.
RUNNING FOR LIVES
Somalia has been without functioning government since the 1991 overthrow of
dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. A new interim government, the 14th bid to restore
central authority since then, is based in a provincial town and has little
power.
Coalition sources told Reuters that Balad had been reinforced with about 30
“technicals” — pick-up trucks turned into battle wagons with fixed heavy guns
— and 200 fighters.
Local residents were fleeing for their lives.
“We have to run before both sides enter,” one woman, Batulo Shiek, said by
telephone from the town.
Mogadishu’s Islamic Courts chairman Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, who this week told
Reuters that CIA officers were regularly flying into Mogadishu to meet warlords,
said on Thursday the courts had issued a formal rallying cry to Somalia’s 10
million people.
“We are ready for peace, but we are asking Somalis everywhere to support the
cause against the infidels. We also said the current fighting is not along clan
lines, and nobody will be targeted because of his clan,” he told Reuters.
SOURCE: Reuters , June 1, 2006
