Islamic militiamen seized a checkpoint outside Somalia's capital Tuesday in an hourlong battle that killed six people, according to a clan leader who accused the militia of breaking a new cease-fire. The checkpoint connecting Mogadishu to the Lower Shabelle region was manned by members of the Habar Gidir clan who had been charging motorists to pass. The fighting killed three clan gunmen and three civilians, clan leader Abdi Kaibdid said. "The Islamists made a surprise attack on my troops overnight," he told The Associated Press.The militia took control of Mogadishu and most of the rest of southern Somalia this month. It signed an agreement last week to stop all military action and recognize the country's powerless, U.N.-backed interim government. But militia officials subsequently voted to replace their relatively moderate leader, who also had been reaching out to the West, with a radical cleric whom the U.S. accused of links to al-Qaida.
Salad Ali Jelle, deputy information minister for Somalia's interim government, said the militia's attack on the checkpoint was a clear breach of the cease-fire. "They should withdraw from the post they captured and go back to their original positions," he said. Members of the Islamic militia could not be reached for comment.