here it is
Islamist militia seize key Somali port
Posted: 8/22/2008 6:33:00 PM
Shabelle: KISMAYO
Somalia's Islamist militia on Friday wrested control of Kismayo, the country's biggest port town, where at least 34 people have died in three days of fighting, witnesses said.
"Kismayo is completely under the control of the Islamists," said Mohamed Abdi, a trader and a former government official.
"All militias were driven out and the town is now controlled by the Islamists," said Farah Abdi, another local.
Clashes erupted between the Islamist fighters and a local militia in Kismayo, 500 kilometres (300 miles) south of the capital Mogadishu, late Wednesday for the control of the town.
But a commander of a local clan militia said they had not been routed by the Islamists, claiming they made "a tactical withdrawal to avoid large number of civilian casualties."
"There is no complete takeover and our forces will regain the control of Kismayo in a very short time," said Mohamud Hassan.
At least 12 people were killed Friday, while several bodies still lay in the combat zones, where it was too dangerous for residents to go and collect bodies.
The militia is headed by Aden Barre Shire Hirale, a warlord who is also a lawmaker in the country's transitional government, but who has strained relations with President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed's administration.
"It is a matter of a day or two before we get Kismayo back," said another militia commander who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Islamists were driven out of Kismayo in early 2007 after Ethiopian forces rolled into Somalia to back the government in fighting an Islamist movement that controlled much of central and southern Somalia.
Kismayo was the last stronghold of the Islamists.
But since the toppling of the Islamist movement early last year, violence has steadily worsened with remnant fighters resorting to guerrilla tactics against the Ethiopian forces, government soldiers as well as African Union peacekeepers in the capital mogadishu.
Civilians have borne the heaviest brunt of battles between Islamist fighters and the Ethiopian forces. At least 6,000 have died in the past year alone.
Somalia has lacked an effective government since Barre's ouster touched off a deadly power struggle that has defied more than 14 attempts to stabilize the country of about 10 million.