Islamic militia to open 'holy war' camps in Somalia*

POSTED: 1924 GMT (0324 HKT), September 19, 2006

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- The hard-line Islamic militia that controls
much of southern Somalia said Tuesday it will open training camps in
schools to prepare students for holy war, an ominous development amid
fears that a Taliban-style regime is emerging in eastern Africa.

The militia -- accused by the United States of having links with al
Qaeda -- is challenging Somalia's virtually powerless government for
authority in this restive African nation. Tension between the two sides
has increased over the past two days after an assassination attempt on
the president and the slaying of an Italian nun in the capital.

Tuesday's announcement of holy war training camps was the militants'
latest attempt to discourage foreign interference in the country. Last
month, seven African countries, known by the acronym IGAD, endorsed a
plan to send 3,500 Ugandan and Sudanese soldiers here.

"Our policy is to fight against countries in IGAD who are our foes,"
said Fuad Mohammed Kalaf, the Islamic group's education official. He
said the training camps in high schools will be established soon but
officials were still working out the details.

"There is nothing wrong with our plan to train students," he said.
"There are a lot of countries in the world that carry out such exercises."

The Islamic group's leader, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, told The
Associated Press that Somalis must fight IGAD troops because "they are
not the owners of Somalia. Somalia belongs to Somalis."

The decision by the IGAD faces several obstacles, including funding
problems, and it is unlikely to become reality anytime soon.
Security raised after suicide attack

Meanwhile, Somalia's government tightened security around its
headquarters in Baidoa -- the only town it controls -- a day after a
suicide car bomber tried to kill President Abdullahi Yusuf. The
president escaped unharmed, but 11 people were killed in the explosion
and a subsequent gunbattle, including Yusuf's younger brother.

Foreign Minister Ismail Mohamed Hurre said the government believed the
car bomb and the nun's slaying had "the hallmarks of al Qaeda." The
terror organization's leader, Osama bin Laden, has called Somalia a
battleground in his war on the West.

The Islamic group has denied involvement in both cases.

The suicide attacker drove a car into the presidential convoy, hitting
the automobile that usually carries Yusuf, Hurre said. The president had
been put in another car that was not part of the main convoy in a
routine security measure.

Even as the militants were denouncing foreign interference Tuesday, the
government called for outside help to find those responsible for the
first-ever suicide attack here.

"We call on the international community -- the U.S., the [European
Union], Japan and any other country -- to assist us in the investigation
of this blast, which is a new phenomenon in Somalia," government
spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said.

Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991, when
warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one
another, throwing the country into anarchy.

The government was formed in 2004 with U.N. help in hopes of restoring
order after years of lawlessness. But the Islamic movement seized the
capital, Mogadishu, in June and now controls much of the country's south.

The group's strict and often severe interpretation of Islam raises
memories of Afghanistan's Taliban, which was ousted by a U.S.-led
campaign for harboring bin Laden and al Qaeda fighters.

Since September 13, more than 3,400 Somali have escaped growing tensions
and fighting in their country and found refuge in neighboring Kenya.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 26,300 Somalis have sought
refuge in Kenya, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees said.