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Islamist rebels seize Somali town | Islamist rebels seize Somali town |
(about 3 hours later) | |
A Somali Islamist group with links to al-Qaeda has captured another town, the latest in a string of gains by the movement known as al-Shabab. | |
The rebels - who are opposed to UN-sponsored reconciliation efforts in Somalia - overpowered pro-government forces in Hudur early on Wednesday. | |
Four civilians in Mogadishu were killed bringing the death toll to about 50 and 120 injured from two days of fighting. | |
It comes days after the new president returned to the Somali capital. | It comes days after the new president returned to the Somali capital. |
Correspondents say it is the fiercest fighting since President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a moderate Islamist, was elected by MPs in January under a UN-brokered peace deal. | |
The first bunch of nearly 100 lawmakers and ministers arrived in Mogadishu from Djibouti on Wednesday to help the president in his efforts to set up a new unity government. | |
The failed Horn of Africa state has not had a functioning national government since 1991. | The failed Horn of Africa state has not had a functioning national government since 1991. |
Exodus | |
BBC Africa analyst Martin Plaut says the spreading influence of Islamic fundamentalists allied to al-Qaeda will be viewed with considerable alarm by Somalia's neighbours - Kenya and Ethiopia - as well as by the United States. | |
The shell landed on the school as the students were busy studying, blood was everywhere Mo'alim Mohamed Aden YusufMogadishu teacher class="" href="/1/hi/world/africa/7861853.stm">Somali president faces tough task | |
The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says another 11 people died as al-Shabab fighters seized Hudur, 300km (180 miles) north-west of Mogadishu on Wednesday morning. | |
Most government officials fled to Hudur after Somalia's temporary seat of government, Baidoa, fell to al-Shabab last month. | |
In the last six months al-Shabab has captured other strategically-important areas, including the ports of Kismayo and Merca and the towns of Buloburte and Elbur. | |
But the movement was also forced out of the towns of Guriel and Dusamareb in the last month after clashes with rival militias and former warlords. | |
Back in Mogadishu, thousands of residents have been fleeing a second day of fighting in the south of the city near the presidential palace, as rebels took on African Union and pro-government troops. | |
Among at least four civilians killed was a child who died when a shell hit a school. | Among at least four civilians killed was a child who died when a shell hit a school. |
Mo'alim Mohamed Aden Yusuf, a teacher, told AP news agency by telephone: "The shell landed on the school as the students were busy studying. Blood was everywhere." | Mo'alim Mohamed Aden Yusuf, a teacher, told AP news agency by telephone: "The shell landed on the school as the students were busy studying. Blood was everywhere." |
Foreign fighters | |
At the weekend, al-Shabab claimed a suicide attack which left 11 Burundian peacekeepers dead at a Mogadishu barracks. | At the weekend, al-Shabab claimed a suicide attack which left 11 Burundian peacekeepers dead at a Mogadishu barracks. |
Civilians as usual are bearing the brunt of the bloodshed | |
Al-Shabab counts foreigners in its ranks and deputy al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri regularly issues statements in the group's support. | |
The movement is loosely allied with another recently formed grouping - the Islamic Party - whose forces now control parts of Mogadishu. | |
The fragile transitional government has been left with little more than sections of the capital under its control. | |
Ethiopian troops, which had been in the country since 2006 to support that government, pulled out at the end of January. | |
Some three million people - half the population - need food aid after years of fighting. | Some three million people - half the population - need food aid after years of fighting. |