American Financed Somaila militia losing to Islamics

Jersay

House Member
Dec 1, 2005
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Independent Palestine
MOGADISHU, Somalia - Renewed fighting between Islamic militias and secular warlords killed at least 38 people in the Somali capital and sent thousands of frightened civilians running from their homes, medical officials and a militia commander said.

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The secular alliance charges that the Islamic militiamen have links to al-Qaida. The Islamic group accuses the secularists of being puppets of the United States.

Witnesses said fighting spread from northern Mogadishu, the scene of fierce battles in recent weeks, to the southern and eastern parts of the capital Thursday as rival militias fought again after a day's lull.

Workers at Mogadishu's main hospitals said at least 30 people were killed. The leader of an Islamic militia, Ali Mohamed Siyad, said his group had lost eight fighters. Two hospitals said they had received at least 90 injured people.

Thousands of civilians fled their homes on foot, some with children on their backs.

Witnesses said that Islamic militiamen had taken over a key southern Mogadishu hotel Thursday. The Sahafi Hotel is owned by a member of the secular Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counterterrorism.

The Islamic militiamen drove the warlords' forces away from the area around the hotel, resident Saidia Mohamed said.

"The battle is continuing, I'm talking to you from under my bed and you can hear sounds of heavy gunfire and mortars," Mohamed said, sounding panic-stricken, on her cell phone.

Sheikh Ali Osman, a commander with the Islamic militias, said that the fighting began after an attack on one of their bases in southern Mogadishu.

"Until we get the upper hand we shall not stop fighting because if we do they will not stop fighting and they will target us," Osman said.

Dr. Sheikhdon Salad Elmi, director of Medina Hospital, said that a mortar landed in a section of the hospital, killing one patient and injuring two others.

Parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden told The Associated Press that he was saddened by the escalated fighting.

"We call on both sides, Somalis and the international community, to come help stop the fighting," said Aden.

Civilians caught in the crossfire or struck by stray rockets have been the main victims of previous fighting in northern Mogadishu, some of the nation's worst violence in more than a decade.

Among those fleeing are residents leaving their homes in the northern part of the city to seek refuge in other areas.

No public transportation vehicles were visible Thursday and schools remained closed for the second day.

Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi last week asked National Security Minister Mohamed Qanyare Afrah and other ministers to join the rest of the government in the southern town of Baidoa or resign.

The ministers are also members of the warlord alliance, which operates independently of the government.

Qanyare, a key Mogadishu warlord, was quoted by the Voice of America Wednesday as saying that he had resigned. He told The Associated Press Thursday that he had not resigned and his comments had been misinterpreted.

The transitional government now is based in Baidoa because it says the capital is too insecure.

Several hours of renewed fighting Wednesday in northern Mogadishu killed at least six people and seriously injured six, witnesses and medical workers said.

More than 140 people were killed in eight days of fighting in Mogadishu earlier this month between the militias and secular warlords.

The fundamentalists portray themselves as capable of bringing order to the Horn of Africa country, which has been without a real government since largely clan-based warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

The Islamic militia's growth in popularity and strength, and the possibility that they have outside support, is reminiscent to some of the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan in the late 1990s.

The secular alliance has said that it has retrieved the bodies of Arab militiamen and others who looked like Pakistanis, Sudanese and Oromo fighters from neighboring Ethiopia, proving that its rivals are bolstered by foreign fighters.

The U.S. is widely believed to be supporting the alliance but American officials have refused to confirm or deny that.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060525...NERb_is0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-

There was another article that was saying that if America supported the National government that has both militias in it the violence would end, but they are supporting secular warlords instead which is breeding extremism.
 

EagleSmack

Hall of Fame Member
Feb 16, 2005
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The guy was reporting from under his bed!

Then he goes on to say that he must keep fighting until they get the upper hand. That means to me that the islamo facist do not have the upper hand.

Yes that is a sign of the secular group losing. :lol:
 

EagleSmack

Hall of Fame Member
Feb 16, 2005
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Ahhhh.... insults. That is a sure sign that you have nothing constructive to add.

Reporting from under a bed... trying to get the upper hand... yes that sounds like a winning team.

Surrender... Ha! Winners don't surrender.