Islamists Take Another Key Somalian City

Islamist militias tightened their hold on southern Somalia on Wednesday, seizing control of a major strategic town and ousting a group of secular warlords in a brief, decisive battle just a week after driving them from Mogadishu.

The nation’s transitional government, based in Baidoa, asked the African Union to deploy peacekeeping troops, but the AU, which supports the government, hasn’t approved the move.

The militants of the Islamic Courts Union have strongly opposed the presence of foreign troops and threatened to halt talks with the transitional government if it seeks AU help. In coming days, the group plans to stage demonstrations against foreign troops in the stadium in Mogadishu, the capital, to protest the move and show its popular backing.

The attack on Jawhar, about 60 miles north of Mogadishu, began midmorning. Within hours the warlords’ militias that had dominated the city for 15 years were fleeing their last stronghold. Up to 19 people may have died in the fighting, the Associated Press reported.

The Islamic Courts Union immediately asserted itself, with chairman Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed warning residents that they should understand the town would be ruled under Sharia, or Islamic law.

Somalia, a fractured country of 9 million people, has suffered anarchy and chaos since 1991, with no central government, police, army or public services.

The Islamists’ victories in Mogadishu and Jawhar have resulted in a drastic power shift in the country, posing a potential threat to the weak transitional government in Baidoa, 140 miles northwest of Mogadishu.

The transitional government, which lacks the force or support to govern from Mogadishu, is fearful the Islamists could continue their drive and overrun Baidoa.

After the victory, Ahmed addressed about 500 people in Jawhar’s stadium. Grinning, he raised a fist and shouted, “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great.” He was surrounded by about 30 guards.

“We came here to restore the freedom of the people of Jawhar,” he said. “We know that this was a place where all bad deeds against Islam took place. The oppression of the warlords ended today.”

He warned that anyone who committed an offense under Sharia would be punished, and he imposed an 8 p.m. curfew.

The rise of the Islamic Courts Union has caused alarm in the Bush administration, which fears the group will establish an extremist, Taliban-style government that might shelter terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda. Ahmed has said his group won’t support terrorists and bears no enmity to the West. The U.S. has denied widespread reports that it has funded the warlords.

In Jawhar on Wednesday, one Islamist fighter, Aidarus Omar, expressed joy over the ease of the victory.

“I hope that we succeed in installing Islamic government across Somalia. If we managed to take Jawhar, it will be easy to take the other towns,” he said, pledging to bring Islamic values to the entire country.

Ibrahim Adoo, president of the independent Al Furqan University in Mogadishu, said in a telephone interview that the government had chosen a bad time to call for AU peacekeepers, because it would jeopardize talks with the Islamic Courts Union.

“The majority of people don’t favor foreign troops coming to Somalia, not because they are anti-foreign but because they don’t see the purpose,” he said. “The majority of people feel that the problems can be solved by the Somali people themselves.”

A few Jawhar residents welcomed the Islamist takeover Wednesday, but many others appeared wary or afraid.

Hussein Jamal, 33, said he was relieved to see the departure of warlord Mohammed Omar Habeb, known as Mohammed Dheere, who had dominated the town since 2001.

“We welcome the courts, we want them to restore the law and order, because Mohammed Dheere was dictator, and we don’t need his administration to come back,” he said.

Firdowsa Gedi, 21, said she would have left the town if she hadn’t given birth 11 days ago.

“We ask the courts to go back to their place, because we can’t endure what they are doing to us,” she said.

A local nurse, Sheika Bakalle, 36, said the town, populated mainly by one of Somalia’s smaller clans, would be trading a warlord’s domination for that of the Islamists.

“I ask the U.N. to intervene. We are just Jawhar people, we are not an armed community. We’re a minority and we want our rights,” she said.

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Special correspondent Albadri reported from Jawhar and Times staff writer Dixon from Nairobi, Kenya.