Radical Islamic militia fighters in central Somalia shot and killed two people at the screening of a banned World Cup soccer broadcast, an independent radio station reported.
The Islamic fighters, who have banned such entertainment, were dispersing a crowd of teenagers watching the match. They opened fire after the teenagers defied their orders to leave the hall in which a businessman was screening the Germany-Italy match on satellite television, Shabelle Radio reported on Wednesday.
It said the dead were a girl and the business owner.
Islamic fighters who wrested control of the Somali capital from warlords in June forbade movies and television entertainment in line with their strict interpretation of Islam. The Supreme Islamic Courts Council, originally called the Islamic Courts Union, has expanded its control to other parts of southern Somalia.
Its leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, has spent the past weeks in central Somalia recruiting fighters in his clan’s native region.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since the warlords turned on each other, carving much of the country into armed camps ruled by violence and clan law. Islamic fundamentalists have stepped into the vacuum, projecting themselves as an alternative military and political power.
They set up a militia force to enforce their interpretation of Islam and formed a court system that helped desperate Somalis settle disputes.
In the southern town of Baidoa, officials from the African Union, European Union, Arab League and an East Africa group met leaders of Somalia’s weak transitional government during a mission to assess security conditions in the country ahead of possible deployment of peacekeepers there.
The 24-member delegation held talks with President Abdullahi Yusuf, Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi and parliamentary Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden.
The team is expected to visit Mogadishu on Thursday for talks with the Islamic group that controls the city and which opposes the deployment of peacekeepers to bolster the weak, United Nations-backed transitional government.
”We will assess the most appropriate way allowing for restoring law and order with the help of African peace keepers,” Mohammed Ali Foum, the AU’s special representative for Somalia, said in Baidoa. ”We would concentrate on how we would create mutual understanding between the regional leaders and the Somalis.” – Sapa-AP