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Thousands of Somalis denounced the United States and called for Islamic law at a rally in the war-torn capital, Mogadishu, where Islamic militias have been battling a secular alliance.
Eleven people were killed in fighting in the northern suburbs and four died in the city when a booby-trapped bicycle exploded. A Muslim leader at the rally called America an enemy of Islam and said Washington supported the secular warlords, whose battle with Islamist fighters has spawned some of Somalia’s worst fighting in 15 years of anarchy.
The United States is widely believed to support the secular alliance, but American officials have not commented. Somalia has had no effective government since 1991, when warlords overthrew the former dictator, then turned on each other.
The Islamic militias are surging as a United Nations-backed transitional government struggles to assert control outside its base in Baidoa, 155 miles northwest of Mogadishu.
Source: AP, June 3, 2006
