Islamists seize Somali town near Ethiopia

Islamists seize Somali town near Ethiopia
September 30 2006 at 02:30PM
Baidoa - Somalia's Islamic fighters have seized control of a strategic village near the Ethiopian border, the group said on Saturday.Fighters loyal to the radical Union of Islamic Courts group routed pro-government militia from the village of Jawill, some 15km from the Ethiopian border. The only roads between Ethiopia and central Somalia pass through the village."The militiamen who controlled this village had a good relationship with Ethiopia so we decided they were an obstacle to our control in the region," said Hassan Abdirahman, whose Islamic fighters carried out the operation. "Some 200 fighters carried out the attack, he said.Local resident Abdi Risaq told The Associated Press by telephone that three pro-government militiamen and one fighter with the Union of Islamic Courts were killed during Friday's gunbattle for the village.
The militia loyal to the virtually powerless government fled across the Ethiopian border, according to eyewitnesses and the Islamic forces who captured the village.On Friday, the US State Department said it was worried by a surge of Muslim fundamentalism in Somalia."Some of their behavior is a source of concern," department spokesperson Sean McCormack said of reports that fundamentalist militia had seized control of much of the African country.Kenya has already also put its troops on high alert because of the deteriorating security in neighboring Somalia.Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another, throwing the country into anarchy.The government has struggled to assert authority, while the Islamic movement seized Mogadishu after fierce battles with secular warlords in June and now controls much of the south. Ethiopia has been accused of deploying troops to prop up the government, which it denies.Analysts fear a regional conflict if Islamic militias and Ethiopian forces clash.The Islamic group's strict and often severe interpretation of Islam raises memories of Afghanistan's Taliban, which was ousted by a US-led campaign for harbouring Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida fighters.Washington has accused Somalia's Islamic group of sheltering suspects in the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Bin Laden has said Somalia is a battleground in his war on the West.Meanwhile militia loyal to the country's defense minister, Colonel Barre "Hirale" Aden Shire, have begun fortifying their positions, fearing an attack from the Islamic courts, local journalist Mohamed Ali Siyad told the AP.Colonel Shire, whose forces had controlled the strategic seaport of Kismayu until its capture by Islamic fighters on Sunday, reassembled his militia in the town of Baardheere, 200km southwest of Baidoa, where Somalia's weak government is based.Islamic forces who chased him out of Kismayo on Sunday have left the seaport and are now at Bu'aale, 150km south of Baardheere, a traditional elder, Sheik Salah Mayow, who lives in Bu'aale, said.
Sapa-AP