From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Fri Jun 04 2010 - 15:19:35 EDT
Al-Shabab Set to Capture Mogadishu As Heavy Fighting Leaves 30 Dead
by Moign Khawaja
June 4, 2010
Who? Al-Qaeda backed Al-Shabab militia is mounting a new offensive.
What? The extreme Islamist movement clashed with the government and its
allied forces including African Union peacekeepers and Ahul-Sunnat Wal
Jamaat group in a bid to capture the Somali capital. More than 30 people
were killed in the violence including six women while at least 70 injured
were admitted to already packed hospitals.
Where? The intense clashes took place in the north of Mogadishu near the
presidential palace.
When? The fresh bout of bloodshed started on Thursday when government troops
attacked Al-Shabab positions in Kaaran district of the war-torn Somali
capital but Thursday proved to be the bloodiest when 30 people lost their
lives.
Why? Al-Shabab says it is fighting to impose Shariah in the war-torn country
in a bid to bring peace and stability. Groups opposed to Al-Shabab's motives
accuse it of making lives miserable of the Somali people by imposing their
strict form of Islam. Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmad, former leader of
the Union of Islamic Courts, was overthrown by a US-backed Ethiopian
invasion in December 2006 but was brought back to power last year by the
same forces who overthrew him in the first place.
How? Al-Shabab militia is entangled in a fierce power struggle with
Hizb-ul-Islam, another Islamist militia as well as Ahlu-Sunnat Wal Jamaat, a
moderate Islamist militia that also supports Sufism. Al-Shabab is inspired
by al-Qaeda and uses tactics like suicide bombing and road side detonations
to overpower its local as well as foreign rivals.
<http://static.foreignpolicyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/al-shabab
-militia.jpg> al-qaeda allies
A group of Al-Shabab militants mobilising in Mogadishu.
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