Somali Islamists seize rival base

Gunmen have controlled Mogadishu for 15 years
New battles have broken out in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, killing at least 13 people.
Islamist militia attacked and captured a garage where their rivals loyal to a group of secular warlords were based in the north-east of the city.
Earlier in the week the warlords calling themselves the Anti-Terrorism Alliance seized a hospital in the area, forcing dozens of wounded to flee.
Some 200 people, mainly civilians, have died in the recent fighting.
On Tuesday a senior US diplomat was removed from his post in Kenya after expressing concern over US support for the warlords' alliance.
Somalia has had no effective government since the overthrow of President Siad Barre in 1991 but this year's clashes have been the worst in the capital for more than a decade.
A truce agreement between the two rival militias was broken last week.
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"We woke up to the sounds of the gunfire and after an hour the whole area fell into the hands of the Islamists including a key check point on the road that links the city to the central regions," Jamaal Ali, the owner of the garage where the warlords had set up their base, told the BBC.
Facts and figures about life in Somalia
A local butcher in Huriwaa district said some 300 Islamist militias with 30 technical cars were involved in the surprise attack.
Director of Medina Hospital, Sheikh Doon Salad Ilmi, said five people died in Keysaney and Medina hospitals - both run by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Eyewitnesses around the battle zone say eight dead bodies were lying in the streets and 10 other people were wounded.
The BBC's Mohammad Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says this is the third base that the militias loyal to the Islamic Courts have captured from warlords.
Hundreds of people have began to flee from their homes fearing a counter-attack, our correspondent says.
Over the last few weeks, the Islamic Courts' militia have gradually been gaining the upper hand in the fighting, which has forced many civilians to hide in their homes or seek shelter elsewhere.
'War crimes'
The UN's humanitarian co-ordinator for Somalia has warned the militias that their actions may be considered war crimes under international law.
The violence began earlier this year when a group of warlords, who had divided Mogadishu into fiefdoms, united to form the Anti-Terrorism Alliance to tackle a growing Islamist force.
The Anti-Terrorism Alliance includes eight warlords, four of whom are ministers in the current government.
A senior US diplomat specialising in Somalia, Michael Zorick, has been removed from his post in Nairobi after expressing concerns about US support for the Mogadishu warlords, who say the Islamic Courts are sheltering al-Qaeda fighters.
The US merely says it will support those trying to stop "terrorists" setting up in Somalia but stresses its commitment to the country's transitional government, which functions from Baidoa, 250km (155 miles) north-west of the capital.
Source: BBC News