Puntland takes a preemptive shot at the Islamic Courts units moving northward
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Map of Somalia. Islamic Courts advances in Red, recent clash in yellow. Click map to view. |
As the long awaited showdown in Baidoa between the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia and the Islamic Courts drags on, the Islamic Courts have advanced northward towards Puntland, a semi-autonomous region of the country. Late last week, Garowe Online reported “30 battlewagons” or technicals – pickup trucks with heavy weapons mounted in the bed – were moving towards the outskirts of Galkaayo.
Abdi Qeybdid, a militia leader in the failed Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism, organized a force in a bid to stem the advance of the ICU. Puntland fighters and militias struck at the ICU in the town of Gelinsoor, which is about 50 miles south of Galkaayo (Galcaio on the map). The ICU appears to have fended off the attack. The government of Puntland rejects the claims the ICU and Puntland forces clashed.
Ethiopian forces have been reinforcing positions in Puntland to shore up the local militias against the advance of the Islamic Courts. There is no word if Ethiopian forces were involved in the attack.
The Puntland government is growing concerned about the rise of influence of the Islamic Courts within their own territory. Members of the Puntland parliament have introduced a bill to ban BBC’s Somali Service for “being partisan and pro-Islamic Courts, to the detriment of Puntland and other political factions.”
Elsewhere in Somalia, Colonel Hirale, the leader of the Juba Valley Alliance and TFG minister of Defense, has returned to Baidoa after his forces were defeated in Bu’ale while attempting to retake the port city of Kismayo. Somalia’s Prime Minister has requested the members of parliament currently in talks with the ICU in Mogadishu return to Baidoa. Two senior members of the ICU claim they were detained and interrogated in Kenya after their flight from Kismayo to Mogadishu was diverted to Nairobi.
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And on another front
The Islamofascist “Islamic Courts Union” may be close to starting their final push in strategic Somalia to overthrow the Transitional Federal Government. Bill Roggio has the details. One thing to watch for: Ethiopia and Kenya both fear a victory by