Somalia: Islamic forces abandon capital

Somalia’s Islamic movement abandoned the nation’s capital today and clan militiamen poured into the streets to take control as government forces came within 18 miles.

Gunfire echoed through the streets of Mogadishu and hundreds of gunmen, who only hours earlier fought for Koranic rule, took off their Islamic uniforms and submitted to the command of clan elders, an Associated Press reporter in the city said.

Some began looting Islamic courts, bases and buildings belonging to Islamic court officials, witnesses said.

“I have seen that the Islamists are defeated. I’m going to rejoin my clan,” said gunman Mohamed Barre Sidow.

“I was forced to join the Islamic courts by my clan, so I now I will return to my clan and they will decide my fate, whether I join the government or not.”

No Islamic militiamen could be seen on the streets. Residents south of the capital reported seeing Islamic forces in a long convoy heading south.

Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the executive leader of the Council of Islamic Courts, said in an interview with al-Jazeera television that he ordered his forces out of Mogadishu to avoid bloodshed in the capital.

Residents living south of Mogadishu said they saw convoys of Islamic fighters driving south.

Most of the shooting and looting was coming from northern Mogadishu, an Abgal clan stronghold, and there were initial reports of casualties.

“Four people, three men and women, died after thugs exchanged gunfire to loot the Islamic courts station near Ramadan Hotel,” Abdullahi Adow, a resident in Mogadishu, said. “The ammunition and foodstuff stores were emptied.”

Salad Gabayre, a clan militia commander in the Sinai district, said elders were calling for their young men to form into militias to protect their neighbourhoods.