Somali Islamic fighters seized a key town in the north yesterday after heavy clashes with gunmen allied to a warlord alliance, expanding their territory outside the lawless capital.Columns of heavily armed Islamic fighters surrounded and pounded Balad, about 30km north of Mogadishu, as militiamen loyal to the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT) fled to safety, witnesses and militia commanders said. "After brief fighting, with the help of Allah and support of the people of Balad we have fully captured the town," Moalim Hashi, an Islamic militia commander said.
"Balad is now safe and secure and is under the control of the Islamic courts. The people have been liberated from the misdeeds of the ARPCT," added Hashi.
Independent sources have confirmed the take-over of the strategic town despite massive reinforcement from Mogadishu-based warlords led by Mohamed Afrah Qanyare and Issa Botan Alin, who rushed to the city with dozens of trucks mounted with machine guns and hundreds of fighters. Witnesses said several had people died - the exact figure was unclear - when the Islamic militia stormed the outpost, pounding it with artillery, rockets and machineguns.
They said the Islamic forces had captured 72 alliance fighters and had freed 18 prisoners from the Balad jail. There were also reports of massive defections to the Islamic militia's ranks.
The Islamists have been making steady gains in recent days, capturing various villages north of Mogadishu on Saturday amid artillery duels that killed at least 19 people. Since the war erupted in February, at least 332 people have been killed and more than 1,500 injured, many of them civilians.
Unfazed by dwindling battlefield fortunes, warlord Bashir Raghe Shirar, another key member of the ARPCT, vowed to fight on until they routed the Islamists. "We will continue fighting because Mogadishu is full of fugitive foreign fighters supported by few Islamic extremist elements. We want them out of this city," he said.
The ARPCT, formed in February, has reportedly received financial and intelligence support from the United States to help fight the Islamic courts, accused of habouring foreign fighters and of having links with groups such as Al-Qaeda.
The courts, which have declared a holy war against the alliance, deny the accusations and claim the warlords are fighting for the "enemy of Islam". The United States has refused to confirm or deny its support for the ARPCT. But US officials and informed Somali sources have said that Washington has given money to the ARPCT, one of several groups it is working with to curb what it says is a growing threat from radical Islamists in Somalia.