Islamist guards have opened fire at Somalis protesting at the takeover of the key port of Kismayo - the country's third largest city. Three deaths are being reported after some residents burnt tyres, chanted anti-Islamist slogans and threw stones. Earlier an Islamist leader spoke at a rally which passed off peacefully.
The last southern Somali port outside the Islamic Courts (UIC) movement's control fell overnight as the defence minister's militia withdrew. An MP told the Somali service that three people had died. Some of the protesters had been seen burning Islamic head-dresses. | Was anyone wearing them at the time? |
A local journalist said the Islamic militia had taken control of the whole city - the airport, the sea port and the building where Kismayo's former ruler, Defence Minister Barre Hiraale had been based.
Meanwhile, eyewitnesses report that hundreds of Ethiopian troops have crossed the border, heading for Baidoa - the only town controlled by the internationally recognised government. Ethiopia supports the administration of President Abdullahi Yusuf but has denied several previous reports that its troops are in Baidoa. Earlier this month, the African Union agreed to a request by Somalia's transitional government, which controls only a small part of the country, to send in a regional peacekeeping force. Kismayo had been seen as a possible landing point for the peacekeepers. |