Somali Islamist leader commends Ethiopian troops

Feb 6, 2007 (MOGADISHU) — A Somali Islamist regional leader praised Ethiopian troops for the good treatment that he received after his detention near the Kenyan border.

The Islamist leader for Jubba provinces, who was wounded in the fighting between Islamists and Ethiopian troops backing the transitional government, has spoken to the press for the first time since his capture by the Ethiopian and government troops nearly three weeks ago.

According to Radio Shabeelle, Sheikh Ahmad Islam said in Kismayo that the Ethiopian troops treated him humanely after he was wounded and captured.

He said he was captured near the jungles in south Somalia near the Kenyan border while US warplanes struck the area. Before he was allowed to talk with the press, an Ethiopian officer told journalists that Islam was still sick of the wounds.

Islam said Ethiopians are not as I believed; they treated me fairly and humanely. I would like now to be treated in hospitals of Addis Ababa,” he said.

Sheikh Ahmad Islam showed the bullet wounds on his leg, arm and cheek. He said the US AC 130 gunship that struck southern Somalia claimed the lives of many more civilians and animals.

(Radio Shabeelle)