Mon, 20 Dec 2010
Mogadishu - Somalia's two main insurgent groups, the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, have joined forces to step up attacks on the government, a spokesman for the smaller Hizbul Islam said.
"The top leaders of Hizbul Islam decided to join with our brothers and now we are one group called al-Shabaab," Mohamed Osman Carus, Hizbul Islam spokesman, told reporters in the capital Mogadishu late Sunday.
The insurgent groups, who between them control much of south and central Somalia, have put aside ideological differences and a history of clashes to concentrate their forces against the Transitional Federal Government.
"We will augment our attacks against the so-called government," Carus said.
The move spells more trouble for the weak Western-backed government, which is penned into areas it controls in Mogadishu under the protection of the African Union peacekeeping mission AMISOM.
As of late Sunday, heavily armed al-Shabaab forces occupied strategic positions controlled by Hizbul Islam in Mogadishu.
Somalia has been embroiled in chaos since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, allowing piracy to flourish off its coastline and foreign extremists to set up base in insurgent- controlled areas.
Thousands of civilians have died and over a million been displaced since the insurgency kicked off in early 2007 following an invasion by Ethiopian forces, who have since departed.
Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/358956,join-forces-vow-attacks.html.
Mogadishu - Somalia's two main insurgent groups, the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, have joined forces to step up attacks on the government, a spokesman for the smaller Hizbul Islam said.
"The top leaders of Hizbul Islam decided to join with our brothers and now we are one group called al-Shabaab," Mohamed Osman Carus, Hizbul Islam spokesman, told reporters in the capital Mogadishu late Sunday.
The insurgent groups, who between them control much of south and central Somalia, have put aside ideological differences and a history of clashes to concentrate their forces against the Transitional Federal Government.
"We will augment our attacks against the so-called government," Carus said.
The move spells more trouble for the weak Western-backed government, which is penned into areas it controls in Mogadishu under the protection of the African Union peacekeeping mission AMISOM.
As of late Sunday, heavily armed al-Shabaab forces occupied strategic positions controlled by Hizbul Islam in Mogadishu.
Somalia has been embroiled in chaos since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, allowing piracy to flourish off its coastline and foreign extremists to set up base in insurgent- controlled areas.
Thousands of civilians have died and over a million been displaced since the insurgency kicked off in early 2007 following an invasion by Ethiopian forces, who have since departed.
Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/358956,join-forces-vow-attacks.html.
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