May 25, 2006

U.S. Backed Forces Fight al Qaeda in Mogadishu

There is a reason the U.S. is supporting a coalition of warlords fighting in Mogadishu. There is little doubt that the Islamist militias fighting for control of Somalia are associated with al Qaeda. This would not be the first time al Qaeda linked forces battled the U.S. in Mogadishu.

As the U.N. begins to fret over the growing violence in Somalia, do not let their equivocations fool you--while both sides may be filled with people who do bad things, at least one side is filled with our SOBs. The other side is led by bin Laden's SOBs (if not bin Laden himself).

Keep your eyes open, this one is getting hot. [Image right: Somalians carry pictures of Osama bin Laden during a 2002 protest against the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan]

Relief Web:

Heavily armed gunmen fought pitched battles in the streets of the lawless Somali capital on Thursday, rocking the city with a fresh surge in the deadliest violence it has seen in years despite appeals for peace.

Islamic militia and fighters loyal to a US-backed warlord alliance pounded southern and northern Mogadishu with heavy machine gun, rocket, artillery and mortar fire, sending the death toll soaring and hundreds fleeing for safety....

Thursday's battles erupted after a tense week-long lull in fighting that began in Sisi on May 7, killing more than 140 people over the eight days before the two sides began observing a tenuous ceasefire.

Those clashes, the third major battle between the Islamists and the warlords since February, brought the death toll to more than 240 in the deadliest violence Mogadishu has seen since Somalia collapsed into anarchy in 1991.

The fighting pits the Islamists against the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT), which was set up in February with US backing to curb the growing influence of Islamic courts and track down extremists, including Al-Qaeda members, they are allegedly harboring.

The courts, which have declared a holy war against the alliance that they say is financed by the "enemy of Islam," deny the accusations.

The fight for control of Mogadishu comes despite a May 14 cease-fire. The alliance claims the self-appointed Islamic court leaders, who have their own militias, have links to al-Qaida, while the Islamic militants accuse the alliance of working for the CIA....

The Islamic fundamentalists portray themselves as an alternative force capable of bringing order to Somalia, which has been without a real government since largely clan-based warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

A U.N.-backed government based in the central city of Baidoa, 155 miles northwest of Mogadishu, has been unable to assert authority. Islamic leaders reject the government because it is not based on Islam....

The Islamic militia's growth in popularity and strength is reminiscent to some of the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan in the late 1990s. The secular alliance says it has retrieved the bodies of Arab militiamen and others who resemble Pakistanis, Sudanese and Ethiopians, proving its rivals are bolstered by foreign fighters.