Xudur is Captured

[Shirib]

At least 17 killed as Somali Islamists ramp up attacks

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

MOGADISHU (AFP) — Hardline Somali Islamists seized a town Wednesday and renewed attacks in the capital Mogadishu, ramping up an onslaught against newly-elected President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and his allies.

At least 17 people, mainly fighters, were killed in fighting when the Shebab group attacked the northwestern town of Hodur and wrested it from the control of pro-government forces, witnesses said.

A second day of clashes between government forces and another Islamist militia in the capital Mogadishu also left four civilians dead.

Elders and witnesses in Hodur, a small town near the Ethiopian border, said the fighting was fierce and confirmed that the Shebab fighters had captured the town.

"Many people died in the fighting. We counted about fourteen who were killed outside the town and three inside. People are reporting there could be more bodies on the outskirts of the town," local elder Adan Nur Muktar said.

A medic a Hodur hospital said the death toll from Wednesday morning's fighting was expected to top 20.

"We killed about 20 of them and destroyed two armed vehicles," regional Shebab commander Sheikh Hasan Derow told AFP.

Somalia's top Shebab commander Sheikh Mukhtar Robow said Hodur, some 300 kilometres (186 miles) northwest of the capital, was now under his group's control.

"The mujahideen (fighters) took control of Hodur and the situation in the town is calm," Robow told AFP.

The Shebab, a former military youth wing of an Islamist movement ousted by Ethiopia-backed Somali forces two years ago, had carried out relentless attacks against the Ethiopian forces who withdrew from Somalia last month.

In recent months, the Shebab have also launched operations against rival Somali factions and conquered large swathes of territory, leaving government forces in control of little more than a handful of blocks in Mogadishu.

Fighting also resumed in Mogadishu between an Islamist militia and government forces backed by African Union troops, a day after some of the bloodiest clashes since the president's January 31 election.

Four civilians, including a child, were killed by artillery shells that hit houses and a Koranic school in the capital's southern Hodan district, witnesses said.

"I was giving lessons to the students when a mortar shell struck the school, killing a child and wounding four others," said Mohamed Adan Yusuf.

Another witness, Mohamed Hassan Yare, said he saw the bodies of three people killed when mortar shells destroyed their houses.

At least 23 people were killed and more than 90 wounded in clashes in the Somali capital Tuesday.

Fighters loyal to Hizb al-Islamiya (Islamic Party) claimed responsibility for the clashes, which erupted after they attacked government forces south of Mogadishu.

Hizb al-Islamiya and the radical Islamist Shebab fighters have intensified their battles against the government of Sheikh Sharif, a moderate Islamist elected president under United Nations-brokered reconciliation talks.

Islamist forces opposed to the UN-sponsored reconciliation bids in Somalia have launched several deadly attacks against the government and African Union forces in recent days.

The attacks were seen as a warning to the troubled country's new president, himself a former Islamist rebel leader who has vowed to stabilise Somalia.

The Shebab also claimed responsibility for a suspected suicide attack against AU troops in Mogadishu that killed 11 Burundian peacekeepers on Sunday.

Last month, they took control of the south-central Baidoa town which hosted the transitional federal parliament after Ethiopian troops withdrew.

Source: AFP, Feb 25, 2009

http://www.hiiraan.com/news2/2009/Feb/a ... tacks.aspx

[peace-]

hip hip heeray.....hip hip heeray..........hip hip heeray

[Ina Baxar]

Hawiyuhu haddu eelayda u soo jeesto , in laga dhex bixi doona miyaaney ogayn raggani ?

Ilaahow nin aan xoog lahayn bir gacanta ha uga gelin , buu yidhi ninki odayga aha

[Diyeeshaha_Tolka]

shirib sxb sheeko way is badashay,,waagi hore waa lagu farxi jiray this kind of news laakiin hada alshabaab taageradi badneed mahaystaan maanta,,dadka walaaha ah D/M waxaa u fiican inay heshiiyaan,,hadii kale next 20 years sidan ayaa lagu jirayaa,,qolona ethiopia ayaa soo hubaynaysa qoloda kalena arabta ayaa so hubaynsa

[Twisted_Logic]

Hawiyuhu haddu eelayda u soo jeesto , in laga dhex bixi doona miyaaney ogayn raggani ?

Ilaahow nin aan xoog lahayn bir gacanta ha uga gelin , buu yidhi ninki odayga aha

[Abmn]

Capturing Xudur is a positive development.

[Murax]

How is this good news?

[James Dahl]

Xudur was the last warlord held territory. All of Somalia is now under the control of regional states or islamic administrations.

[Abmn]

How is this good news?

It's close to the border, enabling Al-Shabaab to guard the country and rebel the enemy's incursions.

[Garuun]

guul

[Somaliman50]

the leader of bay and bakool is a guy named abu ayman, but does anyone know what qabiil he is?

[Diyeeshaha_Tolka]

the leader of bay and bakool is a guy named abu ayman, but does anyone know what qabiil he is?

he is Geledi,, reer baydhabo wa rageedii marki hore waxaa la rabay in nin habargedir madax looga dhigo weydiideen,bacdeen aya lagu qanciyey ninkan oo la yiri waa Digil sidaas ayeyna k aqbaleen

[Shirib]

the leader of bay and bakool is a guy named abu ayman, but does anyone know what qabiil he is?

he is Geledi,, reer baydhabo wa rageedii marki hore waxaa la rabay in nin habargedir madax looga dhigo weydiideen,bacdeen aya lagu qanciyey ninkan oo la yiri waa Digil sidaas ayeyna k aqbaleen

Really? how do u know

[The_Patriot]

the leader of bay and bakool is a guy named abu ayman, but does anyone know what qabiil he is?

He is Isaaq.