As Fighting Rages in Somalia, Government Claims a Victory?
ZANZIBAR, Tanzania, Dec. 21 — The transitional government of Somalia, which for several months had been rapidly losing territory to Somalia’s growing Islamist movement, claimed victory on Thursday in the first major confrontation between the sides.
“We have overrun their troops,” said Abdirizak Adam Hassan, chief of staff for the transitional president, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed.
United Nations officials confirmed heavy Islamist casualties in the fighting, which began Wednesday and continued Thursday.
The Islamist fighters — many of them lightly armed teenage boys, the officials said — were mowed down by transitional government soldiers backed by the Ethiopian Army, the most powerful military in the region.
“The Islamists attacked, they retreated and then they made the mistake of running into an open field,” a United Nations official said on the condition of anonymity. “After that, it was one shot, one kill.”
United Nations officials estimated that dozens of Islamists had died. The Islamists denied suffering humiliating defeats. On Thursday, the Islamist clerics who rule Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, ordered schools closed so more children could be sent to the front lines.
2006-12-26 12:42:58 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Government
I hope they kill them all!
2006-12-26 12:47:19 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
thats not a question, more like a political rant. Probably better blog places for that. Interesting but out of place here I think
2006-12-26 12:46:53 · answer #2 · answered by Tom W 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no need to fight
2006-12-26 12:46:55 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋