Somalia’s Al-Shabaab Militants Pour Into Capital (Update2)

time for AC-130 ..is time to conducted a strike against suspected members of al Qaeda in Somalia Hammer time!"

And I use "government" in the title loosely as they (along with AU troops) control only a few key areas of Mogadishu, it won't be long until they're history and al-Qaeda is in charge...

Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Hundreds of armed members of the Islamist al-Shabaab group, which has links with al-Qaeda, are pouring into Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, from the country’s southern regions as the government prepares for an offensive against them, witnesses said.

“I have seen a couple of dozen armored vehicles full of al-Shabaab forces armed with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 rifles streaming into Mogadishu,” Duraan Osman Khaliif, a shopkeeper at Eelasha Biyaha on the outskirts of the city, said by phone today.At least 11 people were killed and 37 others wounded in in the city today when government forces responded to attacks on their positions by shelling Islamist strongholds, Ali Muse Sheikh, a paramedic, said by mobile phone.The Western-backed Somali government, which has effective control of only a small section of the capital, has vowed to take control of the city. It is being supported by troops from the African Union Mission in Somalia, Amisom. Islamist groups control most of the southern parts of the country.Al-Shabaab says it has information that the government forces are about to attack its positions.“We won’t wait until they attack,” Sheikh Ali Mohamoud Rage, the spokesman for the group, told reporters in the city on Feb. 8. “We will attack before they attack us.”

Residents Fleeing

Hundreds of residents from both sides have been seen fleeing the city to escape the battle, Dahir Abdiasiis Muse, a father of four, said in an interview today. “I decided to flee with my family before the situation turns into chaos,” Muse said. “The government soldiers have taken up positions near my house as they plan their attack.”The Somali government has been battling Islamist insurgents, including the al-Shabaab and Hisb-ul-Islam groups, since 2007. The country hasn’t had a functioning central administration since Mohamed Siad Barre, in 1991.Earlier today, a roadside bomb killed five government soldiers and wounded seven civilians at Hamarjajab in the southern part of the city. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement.

--Editors: Athol Bolleurs, Philip Sanders.
To contact the reporter on this story: Hamsa Omar in Mogadishu via Johannesburg at +27-11-286-1999 or pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at +27-11-286-1934 or asguazzin@bloomberg.net.
Al Shabaab pours into Mogadishu http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8508176.stm