Islamist Rebels Threatening Fragile Somali Government,SOMALIA: Islamists capture town 90 kms from Mogadishu

NAIROBI, May 17 -- A major offensive by Somalia's Islamist rebels is posing the most serious challenge yet to the country's latest central government, reviving longstanding concerns that the chaotic Horn of Africa nation could fall entirely to al-Qaeda-linked militants.
Ten days of heavy fighting across the bombed-out capital of Mogadishu and other areas has pitted the Islamist rebels -- now operating openly with hundreds of Shabaab al-Mujahideen: jihadists from the United States, Britain, Pakistan, Chechnya and other places -- against the fragile government of President Sharif Ahmed, a widely-respected moderate Islamist once vilified by U.S. officials but now regarded by Washington as Somalia's last, best hope.
Momentum has been swinging back and forth between the government and rebels for days, but on Sunday it seemed to shift to the rebels. In a major blow, they took a key government stronghold, Ahmed's hometown of Jowhar, about 50 miles north of the capital, giving them control of major routes to the north. ..more..http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/17/AR2009051701296.html?nav=rss_email/components
SOMALIA: Islamists capture town 90 kms from Mogadishu, watch
http://www.france24.com/en/20090517-somalia-islamists-militants-jowhar-mogadishu-90-kilometres-capture-shabaab
Islamist insurgents capture key town in central Somalia
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90855/6659716.html