Somali troops capture Islamist refuge

Mogadishu: Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian forces have captured a southern Islamist refuge after several weeks of open warfare, forcing the fighters to flee into forests, a government spokesman said on Saturday.

Many fugitive Islamists were believed to be holed up in the coastal village of Ras Kamboni near the Kenyan border after fleeing south from advancing government forces backed by Ethiopian troops, planes and tanks.

"The government took over the last Islamist stronghold of Ras Kamboni yesterday evening after fighting in the morning," Somali government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari told reporters.

"Most of the wanted terrorists have either died or fled. They are hiding in the forests ... Government forces are still chasing them. We will not stop the chase until we are sure they are totally eliminated."

"The Islamist movement is now not a viable fighting organ, but simply a coalition of criminals at large."

Washington sent a warplane into Somalia on Monday to try to kill top Al Qaida suspects and Ethiopian aircraft have pounded the area for days in an attempt to finish a war that began before Christmas.
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Now the Islamists are on the run, and British-based aid agency Oxfam said air raids to pursue them and their suspected Al Qaida allies hiding in southern Somalia had mistakenly killed 70 nomadic herdsmen.

While some Somali sources have reported scores of deaths, there has been no independent confirmation. Both Ethiopia and the United States deny hitting civilians.

Washington's strike was its first overt military involvement in Somalia since a disastrous peacekeeping mission in 1994.

It killed up to 10 Al Qaida allies, but missed its main target of three top suspects, the US government said. Washington denies carrying out any further strikes.

The Washington Post reported on Friday that a small team of US military personnel entered south Somalia after Monday's air strike to try to determine casualties.

If true, it would be the first time US troops have been known to be on Somali soil since a 1990s peacekeeping mission ended after militia downed two Black Hawk helicopters in Mogadishu. Hundreds of Somalis and 18 US troops were killed.

Ethiopia, the region's major power, wants to withdraw in coming weeks its soldiers who have been attacked in Mogadishu since helping the government seize the capital late last month.

Diplomats fear that would leave the government - the 14th attempt at central rule since 1991 - vulnerable to remnant Islamists vowing guerrilla war, warlords seeking to re-create their fiefdoms, and competing clans.

The administration has called for peacekeepers to be deployed immediately. The African Union says it is willing in principle to send troops. Uganda is ready to provide the first battalion, but is nervous of the risks for its soldiers.

Somali warlords agreed on Friday to merge their forces into a new national army to tame the anarchic nation, but fighting outside the presidential palace where they met showed how hard that task will be.

Warlord gunmen trying to force their way inside fought Somali troops and the shootout - the kind of clash commonplace in Mogadishu for the last 15 years - killed several people.

It underscored the huge challenge the fledgling government faces to bring peace and security to the Horn of Africa nation after ousting the Islamists who had held the capital and the south for half a year and ruled through strict sharia law.

Somalia, a nation of some 10 million, has lacked an effective central authority since plunging into chaos after the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamad Siad Barre.

The transitional government was formed in Kenya in 2004 and returned to Somalia the following year but, unable to go to Mogadishu, set up in the provincial town of Baidoa.

It remained largely powerless until Ethiopia weighed in against the growing strength of the Islamists, who had been establishing order but were accused by the United States of having links with the Al Qaida movement.

Since the Islamists fled the capital last month, they have been on the run, but government forces have failed to capture any top officials.