Free Republic

Somalia's clerics vow to resist America By Mike Pflanz in Nairobi (Filed: 08/06/2006) Militant Muslims who took control of Somalia's anarchic capital this week declared war on ''infidels'' yesterday and warned that any US intervention in Mogadishu would be ''disastrous''. Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, chairman of the city's Islamic court union, warned that any action from Washington would fail, echoing the botched 1993 operation that left 18 US servicemen and 300 Somalis dead, and was used as the basis for the film Black Hawk Down. "If US forces intervene directly against us in Mogadishu, then we are ready to teach...

Slaughter as gunmen fight to control Somalia's capital By Mike Pflanz, East Africa Correspondent (Filed: 11/05/2006) Somalia's lawless capital Mogadishu was engulfed in violence yesterday as fighting between rival factions brought terror to civilians. At least 14 people were killed in a fourth day of fighting between gunmen allied to conservative Islamic leaders and others loyal to a group of powerful businessmen. The bloodshed took the death toll to 96 since Sunday, with an estimated 200 people wounded. Most of the dead and injured were civilians. The two sides have used heavy machineguns, rocket-propelled grenades and artillery. A mortar round...