Artillery rains down on Somali Islamist bastionBy Sahra Abdi
Sun Dec 31, 12:49 PM ET
KISMAYU, Somalia (Reuters) - Somali government forces and Ethiopian allies
rained down mortars and rockets on Islamist fighters dug in near a southern
port town on Sunday to start a battle that could be the last stand for the
Islamists.
As night fell, the Islamists who fled Mogadishu three days ago to take refuge
around the towns of Kismayu and nearby Jilib, fired back from trenches in
scrubby bushland, witnesses said.
-snip-The besieged Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) has rallied several thousand
fighters at Jilib, just north of the port town of Kismayu on the shores of the
Indian Ocean, after a retreat south 300 km (190 miles) from the capital Mogadishu.
Fearing a blood-bath, residents ran for their lives, carrying blankets, food and
water on their heads.
-snip- Full article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061231/wl_nm/somalia_conflict_dc