From: Yemane Natnael (yemane_natnael@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Aug 22 2008 - 12:10:59 EDT
Somali rebels take port town as death toll hits 70
Fri Aug 22, 2008
By Sahra Abdi Ahmed
KISMAYU, Somalia (Reuters) - Islamist rebels seized control
of a port in southern Somalia on Friday after the worst
fighting there for months killed 70 people, residents said.
The loss of the port of Kismayu to the al-Shabaab
insurgents was yet another blow for the interim government,
which signed a peace deal with some opposition figures this
week that has done little to end violence racking the Horn of
Africa nation.
Battles between the rebels and a pro-government clan
militia broke out in the south on Wednesday.
"Kismayu is under our control. We overpowered them and
concluded the fighting," Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, a spokesman for
the Islamists, told Reuters by telephone.
"We're still chasing those fighters who ran away. The
situation is calm and we urge the people to stay peaceful."
Local rights activists and residents said 70 people died in
fighting that started on Wednesday. Scores were wounded.
The al-Shabaab rebel group has been waging an Iraq-style
insurgency of mortar attacks, roadside bombings and
assassinations targeting Somalia's interim government and its
Ethiopian military allies since the start of last year.
Washington has listed al-Shabaab as a terrorist
organization with close ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda.
Nationwide, the violence in Somalia has killed more than
8,000 civilians and driven another 1 million from their homes.
The interim government signed a peace deal with some
opposition figures on Monday, but that agreement had already
been rejected by al-Shabaab and other opposition hardliners.
The manager of Kismayu general hospital, Abdi Ahmed Sugule,
said there was only one doctor and a handful of nurses on duty.
"We are also running short of drugs and more people are on
the way to the hospital," Sugule said.
Kismayu had been relatively peaceful in recent months
compared with the bombed-out capital Mogadishu, which was also
the scene of fierce fighting on Thursday.
Some of those battles took place near President Abdullahi
Yusuf's Villa Somalia residence. Yusuf is visiting Ethiopia.
(Additional reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Ibrahim Mohamed in
Mogadishu; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Charles Dick)
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCALM61249320080822?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
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