Al-Shabab among the most brutal of Somali militias

SOMALIA? It sounds like Afghanistan.
Geographically obscured on the Horn of Africa, its recent history is a faster-paced repeat of the more familiar tale of the international neglect in Central Asia – years of rule by chaotic warlords who, in turn, were overrun by brutal Islamist fundamentalists; who then split into warring factions as the country became an impoverished proxy battlefield for regional and world interests.
Al-Shabab, the group named in the terrorism plot uncovered in Melbourne yesterday, emerged as a Taliban-like insurgency that took control of swathes of southern Somalia and now holds all but a few blocks in the capital, Mogadishu – despite backing for the Government from Ethiopia, the US, the European Union and the African Union...more..http://www.smh.com.au/world/alshabab-among-the-most-brutal-of-somali-militias-20090804-e8nh.html