(MOGADISHU) — Somali government troops backed by Ethiopians prepared Friday to launch a major assault on the last stronghold of Islamic movement militiamen. U.S. warships patrolled off the Somali coast to prevent militiamen from escaping by sea. The U.S. 5th Fleet said in a statement Thursday that coalition ships were boarding vessels as part of the effort to deny an escape route to al-Qaida suspects believed working with the Somali Islamic movement.
Somali and Ethiopian force captured a southern town near the Kenyan border Thursday evening. Col. Barre "Hirale" Aden Shire, defense minister in the U.N.-backed transitional government, said Islamic militiamen were dug in with their backs to the sea at Ras Kamboni at the southernmost tip of Somalia.
"Today we will launch a massive assault on the Islamic courts militias. We will use infantry troops and fighter jets," said Shire, who left for the battle zone Friday. "They have dug huge trenches around Ras Kamboni but have only two options: to drown in the sea or to fight and die."
Excerpted
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article19601
UK Muslim guilty of soliciting murder
January 5, 2007
A British Muslim was convicted today of soliciting murder by calling at a London demonstration for the United States and Denmark to be bombed.
Umran Javed (27) was also convicted at a London court of inciting racial hatred during the protest last February against the publication of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammad. He faces a jail sentence and will be sentenced at a later date.
Prosecutors said there was no doubt Javed had intended to incite murder and racial hatred. "If you shout to your audience 'bomb, bomb Denmark, bomb, bomb USA', there is no doubt what you intend your audience to understand," said prosecuting lawyer David Perry.
Excerpted
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/0105/breaking67.htm
MOGADISHU, Somalia - January 5, 2007 - Islamic fighters hiding in Mogadishu since their movement's main force was driven from the Somali capital say they will heed al-Qaida's call for guerrilla attacks and suicide bombings against Ethiopian troops whose intervention was key to the Islamists' defeat.
"I am committed to die for the sake of my religion and the al-Qaida deputy's speech only encourages me to go ahead with my holy war," 18-year-old Sahal Abdi told The Associated Press, referring to an audio message posted on the Internet on Friday.
Excerpted
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=nation_world&id=4907030
Sanctions imposed on Iran, Syria arms suppliers
January 5, 2007
The Bush administration is imposing economic sanctions on Chinese, Russian and North Korean companies for selling missiles and weapons goods to Iran and Syria, administration officials said. The sanctions were imposed earlier this week on three Chinese state-run companies, three Russian firms and a North Korean mining company under a 2000 arms proliferation law that was renamed Iran and Syria Nonproliferation Act in 2005.
Excerpted
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20070104-112337-4050r.htm