Mogadishu: A Somali rebel group has told the Horn of Africa nation's embattled leader to quit power and said hardline Islamists had succeeded where government had failed, establishing order in areas they controlled.
Hizbul Islam, which has waged a three-year insurgency against the fragile interim government alongside the Al Qaida-linked Al Shabaab group, urged Somalia's Muslims to unite and join in the holy war.
"President Shaikh Sharif Ahmad ought to quit. He has nothing for the people except a call for more foreign troops that massacre Somalis," Shaikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, leader of Hizbul Islam, told reporters on Tuesday evening.
Hardline Islamist control much of the capital Mogadishu, hemming the government into just a few blocks manned by African Union (AU) peacekeepers, as well as vast tracts of south and central Somali.
In recent days, the militants have intensified their offensive on government targets and killed four Ugandan peacekeepers deployed near the presidential palace.
Bent on imposing a strict version of Sharia law on the nation, the militants routinely mete out stonings and amputations and have banned football, music and school bells in areas they control. They claim to have restored law and order.
"I urge Islamists to unite. Areas under the control of Islamists are peaceful. They are the good Muslims who can rule the country," Aweys said.
More than 150 people have died over the last 10 days during the latest escalation of violence in Mogadishu, medics said. On Tuesday, a roadside blast and heavy artillery fire between insurgents and AU-backed government troops killed at least 18 people.
