Jihad in Somalia Still Going Strong

53 people were killed when al Shabaab, an al Qaida linked Somalian group, attacked Ethopian troops.
Reuters

Al Shabaab has a website that is hosted on US soil. We've tried unsuccessfully to take this site down.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - At least 53 people were killed in Somalia when Islamist insurgents clashed with Ethiopian troops and Ugandan peacekeepers in separate battles, a human rights group said on Wednesday.

The latest flare-up in the 18-month-old insurgency came a week before a U.N.-mediated ceasefire between an Islamist faction and the interim Somali government is to take effect.

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"A total of 47 people died yesterday in central Somalia and in the capital Mogadishu last night,"

Ahmed Sudan, chairman of the Mogadishu-based Elman Peace and Human Rights organization, told Reuters 47 people were killed on Tuesday and overnight in central Somalia and Mogadishu. He said six more had since died of their wounds.

Sudan said 11 civilians were killed when Islamists ambushed Ethiopian troops and Ugandan peacekeepers in the capital Mogadishu overnight, while dozens of others were wounded.

Another 36 people, including civilians and insurgents, were killed when rebels struck an Ethiopian troop convoy in Mataban, 410 km (255 miles) north of the Somali capital Mogadishu.

Among the dead on Tuesday were Moalim Farhan, commander of the militant group that attacked the convoy, and Abdullahi Ali Farah, also known as Sheikh Aspro, a spokesman for the insurgents told Reuters.

Aspro is deputy to hardline Islamist Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is on U.S. and U.N. lists of al Qaeda associates.