| Mogadishu, Somalia |
Fighting between Islamic militia and a United States-backed warlord
alliance subsided in the lawless Somali capital on Thursday, but tension
remained high as the factions regrouped after deadly clashes.
Stung by
the loss on Wednesday of a key position in north-east Mogadishu, the alliance
reinforced a base north of the city with fighters drawn from a warlord who
controls the town of Jowhar, about 90km away.
Witnesses said it appeared
the gunmen in Balad, about 30km north of the capital, were preparing to attack
Islamists at El-Irfid, a village on Mogadishu’s northern outskirts.
“We
are getting word the warlords have been reinforced from Jowhar and are planning
to raid El-Irfid, but we are well prepared,” said Mustafa Ali, an official with
one of the city’s 11 Islamic courts.
In the city itself, sporadic gunfire
could be heard around the north-eastern neighbourhood of Sukahola, where the
Islamists seized alliance positions in well-coordinated attacks on Wednesday,
residents said.
A day after the two sides pounded each other with heavy
machine gun, rocket and artillery fire, the area was tense but generally
violence free, although the death toll from Wednesday’s clashes rose by three to
10, they said.
“Apart from the sporadic gunfire, Sukahola is relatively
calm,” said resident Abdulahmed Noor, who, like others, expressed deep concern
about a resumption in battles.
“We fear fighting could erupt at anytime
because the gunmen have not moved from the frontlines,” said Sukahola resident
Amina Mohamed.
Hospital sources said the death toll from Wednesday’s
clashes rose when three of the at least 11 people wounded, succumbed to their
injuries overnight.
The new fatalities brought to at least 72 the number
of people killed in the most recent round of clashes that began last Wednesday,
worsened on Thursday and exploded on Saturday, when 30 people died.
More
than 300 people have been killed and more than 1, 00 wounded, many of them
civilians, since the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counterterrorism
(ARPCT) and the Islamic courts began battling in February.
The ARPCT was
set up in February with US support to curb the growing influence of the Sharia
courts and track down extremists and foreign fighters, including al-Qaeda
members, that they are allegedly harbouring.
The courts, which have
declared a holy war against the alliance, deny the accusations.
Somalia
has been without a functioning central authority since 1991 and the country’s
largely powerless transitional government, based in Baidoa about 250km
north-west of Mogadishu, has blamed both the alliance and the US for the
fighting.
The US denies responsibility for the clashes, although it has
refused to confirm or deny its support for the ARPCT.
But US officials
and informed Somali sources have told Agence France-Presse that Washington has
given money to the ARPCT, one of several groups it is working with to curb what
it says is a growing threat from radical Islamists in Somalia. — Sapa-AFP
SOURCE: Mail & Guardian Online , June 1, 2006
