Reuters
Saturday, October 21, 2006
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali government troops fought with a local militia loyal to the country's newly powerful Islamist movement on Saturday, residents said.
"Heavy fighting took place early this morning between government troops and a local militia loyal to the Islamists," said Abdihakim Ahmed, a resident of Bur Hakaba town.
"The fighting is still raging on. It looks like the local militia have been pushed out of town," he added by telephone.
"I don't know how many are dead or wounded, I could not go outside."
The rise of the Islamists, who have seized most of the south since taking the capital in June, threatens the government's attempt to re-impose central rule on a country in chaos since the 1991 ousting of a dictator.
Laying down strict sharia law, the Islamists have vowed holy war against giant neighbor Ethiopia, whose troops they accuse of invading Somalia to prop up the Western-backed government.
Ethiopia denies it and calls the Islamists terrorists.
Source: Reuters, Oct. 21, 2006