The leader of Somalia’s Islamic militia said on Monday that his group will “fight to the finish” against supporters of a secular warlord in the war-torn capital, one day after fierce fighting killed at least 20 people.
The Islamic fighters who wrested Mogadishu from warlords last month fired mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades on Sunday at supporters of Adbi Awale Qaybdiid, who refused to disarm after the United States-backed secular alliance lost control of the capital.
“We have been attacked by the alliance of warlords, and Qaybdiid’s militia are the remnants of that alliance, so there is no other option but to fight to the finish,” the Islamic fighters’ leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys told the Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Hundreds of people fled their homes to escape Sunday’s fighting.
“We were trapped inside our home for three hours, we could not even stand up” because of stray bullets, said Said Yahye, who eventually fled his house with his three sons.
Doctors said at least 20 dead and 40 wounded were taken to four hospitals in Mogadishu. At least four other bodies lay on the ground, witnesses said.
Somalia’s largely powerless UN-backed secular interim government said the radical Islamic group must stop attacks if they want to join talks on restoring law and order in Mogadishu.
“They have to renounce violence for them to participate in the meeting. For them to think they can grab power by the barrel of the gun and then to come to that meeting, that is a contradiction,” said Ismail Hurreh, a deputy prime minister.
Somalia has been without an effective government since warlords overthrew its long-time dictator in 1991 and divided the nation into fiefdoms.
In the absence of an effective central government, Islamic fundamentalists have stepped into the vacuum as an alternative military and political power.
The Islamic militiamen have grown increasingly radical since they seized the capital, forbidding movies, television and music in line with their strict interpretation of Islam.
A recent recruiting video issued by the militia showed foreign militants fighting alongside them, and invited Muslims from around the world to join in their “holy jihad”. — Sapa-AP
Associated Press reporter Salad Duhul in Mogadishu contributed to this report.