Somali Islamic insurgents take 2 strategic towns

[Coventina]

Source: Associated Press

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — An Islamic militia that the U.S. considers a terrorist organization took over two strategic towns in Somalia on Tuesday, the latest territory grab by a strengthening insurgency, officials said.

The militia, al-Shabab, seized El Dheer in central Somalia and Qoryoley in the south as part of a burgeoning campaign to take territory nominally held by the weak U.N.-backed government and its Ethiopian allies. The new seizures give the group a strategic base in central Somalia, where it controls Kismayo, the third-largest city.

Al-Shabab, which means "the youth," is the military wing of Union of Islamic Courts, an Islamic party that ruled much of the country in the second half of 2006 and aims to impose Islamic sharia law in Somalia. It launches daily attacks on Somali government forces and their Ethiopian allies.

The U.S. says many of its leaders are linked to al-Qaida.



Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g7OaI4_kjeHA-o4UhlmP7vlWmrrwD94CNIS00

[Alamuti Lotus]

1. progress

The six months' time period where they had driven out the warlords, pirates, and Ethiopia's phony puppet gov't were the most peaceful and stable months that Somalia had seen in decades.

[Kire]

2. Old pirates, yes, they rob I,

Old pirates, yes, they rob I,
Sold I to the merchant ships.
Minutes after they took I,
From the bottomless pit.
But my hand was made strong,
By the hand of the All Mighty.
We forward in this generation,
Triumphantly.

Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom ?
'Cause all I ever had,
Redemption songs,
Redemption songs.

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery,
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
'Cause none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look?
Some say it's just a part of it,
We've got to fullfil the book.

So won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever had,
Redemption songs,
Redemption songs,
Redemption songs.
-
/Guitar break/
-
Old pirates, yes, they rob I,
Sold I to the merchant ships.
Minutes after they took I,
From the bottomless pit.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look?

[Romulox]

3. Somebody in the media REALLY wants a war with Somalia. nt