Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Philadelphia Inquirer
January 6, 2007
By Elizabeth A. Kennedy, Associated Press
MOGADISHU, Somalia - Islamic fighters hiding in Mogadishu since their movement's main force was driven from the Somalian capital say they will heed al-Qaeda's call for guerrilla attacks and suicide bombings against Ethiopian troops whose intervention was key to the Islamists' defeat.
"I am committed to die for the sake of my religion, and the al-Qaeda deputy's speech only encourages me to go ahead with my holy war," Sahal Abdi, 18, told the Associated Press, referring to an audio message posted on the Internet yesterday.
Troops of Somalia's transitional government, backed by the Ethiopian military, routed the Islamic militia from much of southern Somalia, ending their six months in power. The group had brought a semblance of stability here, but it also terrified residents with a version of Koranic rule that included public executions and floggings of criminals.
Interviews with militants who fought with the Council of Islamic Courts and went underground when most of their comrades fled Mogadishu last week suggest their movement is fractured and cut off from its leaders but still motivated for battle.
Somalia's interior minister says 3,500 fighters are hiding around the capital, raising the specter of an Iraq-style guerrilla war as diplomats meeting in neighboring Kenya agreed yesterday on a plan to raise a foreign peacekeeping force for Somalia.
AP contacted several militants by telephone after townspeople identified them as former fighters known from the months when the Islamic movement controlled Mogadishu.
Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, urged the Islamic movement's fighters and other Muslims to attack the troops of Christian-dominated Ethiopia, which he called a "crusader" invasion force.
"Launch ambushes, land mines, raids and suicidal combats until you consume them as the lions and eat their prey," Zawahiri said in the taped message that was posted on a Web site frequently used by extremists and that carried the logo of al-Qaeda's media production wing, al-Sahab.
Ethiopia, a U.S. ally, wants to pull its force out in a few weeks, saying that its soldiers cannot be peacekeepers and that it cannot afford for them to stay. Somalia is trying to train its own military and police while the plan for an international force is put in place.
A meeting of U.S., European Union, African and Arab diplomats ended in Kenya yesterday with a U.S. pledge to provide $40 million to Somalia in political, humanitarian and peacekeeping assistance, and a plan to ask more African nations to send troops to help stabilize the country. Uganda has pledged at least 1,000 peacekeepers.
The EU said it would also help pay for a peacekeeping force envisioned at 8,000 soldiers.
Still supported by Ethiopians, government troops prepared yesterday for a major assault on Ras Kamboni, the last stronghold of the Islamic militia. U.S. warships patrolled offshore to prevent militiamen from escaping by sea.
January 6, 2007
By Elizabeth A. Kennedy, Associated Press
MOGADISHU, Somalia - Islamic fighters hiding in Mogadishu since their movement's main force was driven from the Somalian capital say they will heed al-Qaeda's call for guerrilla attacks and suicide bombings against Ethiopian troops whose intervention was key to the Islamists' defeat.
"I am committed to die for the sake of my religion, and the al-Qaeda deputy's speech only encourages me to go ahead with my holy war," Sahal Abdi, 18, told the Associated Press, referring to an audio message posted on the Internet yesterday.
Troops of Somalia's transitional government, backed by the Ethiopian military, routed the Islamic militia from much of southern Somalia, ending their six months in power. The group had brought a semblance of stability here, but it also terrified residents with a version of Koranic rule that included public executions and floggings of criminals.
Interviews with militants who fought with the Council of Islamic Courts and went underground when most of their comrades fled Mogadishu last week suggest their movement is fractured and cut off from its leaders but still motivated for battle.
Somalia's interior minister says 3,500 fighters are hiding around the capital, raising the specter of an Iraq-style guerrilla war as diplomats meeting in neighboring Kenya agreed yesterday on a plan to raise a foreign peacekeeping force for Somalia.
AP contacted several militants by telephone after townspeople identified them as former fighters known from the months when the Islamic movement controlled Mogadishu.
Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, urged the Islamic movement's fighters and other Muslims to attack the troops of Christian-dominated Ethiopia, which he called a "crusader" invasion force.
"Launch ambushes, land mines, raids and suicidal combats until you consume them as the lions and eat their prey," Zawahiri said in the taped message that was posted on a Web site frequently used by extremists and that carried the logo of al-Qaeda's media production wing, al-Sahab.
Ethiopia, a U.S. ally, wants to pull its force out in a few weeks, saying that its soldiers cannot be peacekeepers and that it cannot afford for them to stay. Somalia is trying to train its own military and police while the plan for an international force is put in place.
A meeting of U.S., European Union, African and Arab diplomats ended in Kenya yesterday with a U.S. pledge to provide $40 million to Somalia in political, humanitarian and peacekeeping assistance, and a plan to ask more African nations to send troops to help stabilize the country. Uganda has pledged at least 1,000 peacekeepers.
The EU said it would also help pay for a peacekeeping force envisioned at 8,000 soldiers.
Still supported by Ethiopians, government troops prepared yesterday for a major assault on Ras Kamboni, the last stronghold of the Islamic militia. U.S. warships patrolled offshore to prevent militiamen from escaping by sea.