21 die as Islamists rid Somali capital of warlords
July 9, 2006 (MOGADISHU) — Hardline Somali Islamic militants have declared “absolute” victory over the remaining warlords in the lawless capital Mogadishu after clashes that claimed at least 21 lives, spelling the end of the notorious warlords’ rule in the Indian Ocean city.
“We have absolutely won the fighting that started in Mogadishu this morning. We now control the whole city after we seized the last territory from warlord Qeydiid,” said Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, the deputy secretary of defence for the Islamic courts.
Fighters allied to the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia ousted their rivals loyal to warlord Abdi Hassan Awale Qeydiid, who with warlord Hussein Aidid had refused to surrender and hand over their weapons to the Islamists, who routed the other warlords from the capital on June 5.
At least 21 people were killed Sunday, including civilians, in artillery duels in southern Mogadishu, while dozens were wounded and taken to the capital’s Medina and Banadir hospitals, doctors, witnessess and militia said.
Witnesses said warlords’ fighters fled from their positions, which they had held for many years, as Islamic militants on battlewagons — pickup trucks equipped with machine guns — established their bases, marking the end of the warlords’ rule in the capital.
Sporadic gunfire could be heard as the vanquished militiamen fled for safety led by Qeydiid himself, according to an AFP correspondent. Aidid, also deputy prime minister in the transitional administration, was in the seat of government in Baidoa, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) northwest of the capital.
The two warlords spurned several calls to surrender and give up their weapons, dismissing the Islamists as stooges paid by foreign terrorists to impose Islamic theocracy in the nation of around 10 million people.
Militia sources said the toll could be much higher as several wounded civilians had been taken to hospitals and dispensaries with critical injuries. Hundreds of terrified civilians fled battlefields and stray rounds of fire tore through the air.
“Since the Islamists have a policy of not revealing their battlefield losses, we believe the overall toll could be as high as 43,” said an Islamic militiaman, who requested to remain unamed.
The Islamists, who routed the US-backed warlords from the capital on June 5 and now control large swathes of southern Somalia, vowed to rid the country of warlords and other faction chiefs who have ruled since the government of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled in 1991.
Apart from Qeydiid and Aidid, other defeated warlords either fled or defected to the Islamic courts.
Aidid was not part of the now-vanquished US-backed Alliance for Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT), but kept his fighters in the lawless capital.
The latest unrest brings the toll to at least 381 dead and more than 2,000 wounded in the fighting, which erupted on February 18 when Washington bankrolled the warlords grouped under the ARPCT to curb the growing influence of the Islamists, who are accused of links with Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network and habouring foreign fighters.
The Islamists have flatly rejected the charges while starting to impose strict Sharia law across the overwhelmingly moderate Muslim country in what many see as a direct challenge to Somalia’s largely powerless transitional government.
US officials have repeatedly described their victory as “creeping Talibanization” as Sharia law has increasingly taken hold, with public executions, banning of bands at wedding parties and lashing of offenders in public and well as the outlawing of televised World Cup matches and Western and Indian films.
In addition, the Islamists have warned that Muslims who fail to perform daily prayers will be killed in accordance with Koranic law.
The requirement to observe the five-times daily ritual under penalty of death was announced last week and appears to confirm the hardline nature of the courts.
Last month, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a hardline cleric designated a terrorist by the United States, was named as the Islamists’ supreme leader, deepening fears that Somalia is becoming a haven for terrorists.
The courts are due to meet senior government officials next week in Sudan but remain deeply at odds with the administration on several key issues, including the planned deployment of international peacekeepers which they maintain would jeopardise efforts to restore stability.
(ST)