Islamic militia, which has been fighting with an alliance of
warlords since February, claimed control of Somali capital of
Mogadishu Monday, according to reports reaching Nairobi from
Mogadishu. More than 300 were killed and 1,700 wounded in the
fighting, many of them civilians.
The militia declared the victory through radio broadcast, but
this has yet to be verified as a result of chaos in the city of the
Horn of Africa nation, which had been in anarchy since 1991, when
warlords overthrew the last government.
The battle between the militia and the warlord alliance has
escalated in recent months. The UN-backed interim government, which
was set up in Kenya in 2004 and now based in Baidoa, 250 kilometers
from Mogadishu, has accused Washington of funding the alliance and
contributing to instability.
The United States, which accuses the Islamists of harboring
extremists, including Al-Qaeda members, has said it were "wrongly
blamed" for the fighting but has refused to confirm or deny the
allegation.
(Xinhua News Agency June 6, 2006)
