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| Africa Horn |
| Corpses litter Somali port seized by Islamists |
| 2008-08-24 |
| Bodies littered the streets of Somalia's strategic southern port of Kismayu on Saturday, a day after it was seized by Islamist rebels in fighting that killed at least 70 people. "We are now collecting the corpses lying in the streets," resident Mohamed Farah, 55, told Reuters. "The town is calm today and we're busy burying the victims of the fighting. The Islamists are at the abandoned sea and air ports, and people here are hoping to reopen their businesses." Since the start of last year, al-Shabaab rebels have been waging an Iraq-style insurgency of mortar attacks, roadside bombings and assassinations, targeting the fragile administration and its Ethiopian military allies. The loss of Kismayu to the al-Shabaab insurgents was another blow for Somalia's interim government, which signed a peace deal with some opposition figures last week that has only seemed to stoke violence in the Horn of Africa nation. The artillery and gun battles that broke out on Wednesday around Kismayu were the heaviest in the area for months. Medical workers said at least 140 people had been wounded. Fearful residents said large, unidentified aircraft had been flying over the area since then. "We don't know what will happen, but we are scared," said another local man, Hussein Ahmed, 35. It was not clear who sent the planes. Many in Kismayu fear the pro-government clan militia that fled the town on Friday might soon try to regroup to retake it. "The capture of Kismayu by al-Shabaab may bring us a new disaster," Fatuma Mohamud, a local mother-of-four, told Reuters. "We're afraid our town will become like Mogadishu, where explosions and hit-and-run attacks are order of the day." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Maybe its where the motherships operate out of. For an economy that has 'Piracy' as a major element, that is strategic. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-08-24 12:21 |
| #1 Ya ever wonder what the criteria is that makes a port in Somalia "strategic"? |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2008-08-24 09:46 |