Shabab rebels, who control most of Somalia with allied Islamist groups, on Saturday attacked a town lost to moderate Islamists about a year ago. It appeared late Saturday that the moderate Islamists had kept control of the town, Dusa Marreb, in central Somalia, although the Shabab earlier claimed victory. The battles killed 10 people, witnesses said. The two groups have been fighting each other elsewhere in Somalia for months. The group that had been controlling Dusa Marreb, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama, had chased out the Shabab in December 2008 and vowed to challenge the Shabab in other areas to “restore stability and harmony in Somalia and achieve a genuine government of national unity.”
Residents of the town say they evacuated it when they heard gunfire early Saturday morning. “I and my children immediately fled outside the town,” Khadiija Ali said. “I was preparing breakfast for my family, when the bullet sound shocked me. We were not expecting such fight.” The assault came a day after the Shabab, which have increasing ties with Al Qaeda, tried to attract international media attention by vowing to send fighters to help insurgents in Yemen.
The United States has been helping the Yemeni government combat a branch of Al Qaeda, an effort that is likely to continue, with President Obama saying Saturday that the group sponsored the attempt on Dec. 25 to bring down a jet bound for the United States. Western governments have been hoping that Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama and other moderate Islamists can repel Somalia’s increasingly powerful extremists. Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama, a Sufi militia, has been one of the more successful groups in fighting the Shabab, who are fearsome fighters.
The weak transitional government in Somalia controls a small enclave in Mogadishu, the capital, under the protection of African Union peacekeeping troops. Somalia has not had an effective central government since 1991.
Source: New York Times
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