Somalia's Muslim fighters take over port

SOMALIA'S hardline Shebab group yesterday took over the southern port of Merka, a key entry point for food aid, further tightening the rebel group's grip on the war-torn Horn of Africa country.

Hundreds of heavily-armed Shebab fighters rolled into Merka town, some 100 kilometres south of the war-riven capital Mogadishu, after pro-government forces fled.

"It seems that they are gaining control now and we did not have much power to defend the town," said Hussein Yusuf Maalim, a member of the pro-governemnt militia that ruled the town.

"Our commander ordered all the forces to leave the town in order to avoid any gunfight," he added.

"They were armed with heavy machine guns and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades)," said Ibrahim Abdalla Ali, a Merka resident.

"Hundreds of them entered the town and took control of the police station and other key positions in the town," the capital of the breadbasket Lower Shabelle region.

Muslim rebels have made significant military gains in recent months, leaving the embattled western-backed transitional federal government only in control of some parts of the capital Mogadishu and Baidoa, where parliament is seated.

In 2006, the Islamic Courts Union, of which the Shebab were the armed wing, had taken over most of the country before being ousted by Ethiopian forces who had intervened to provide firepower for the weak transitional government.

The group have since splintered, the political leadership fleeing into exile and the Shebab engaging in a bruising guerrilla war that has left thousands of civilians dead.

On Tuesday, Shebab fighters were already closing in on Merka and seized Qoryoley town, just over 100 kilometres southwest of Mogadishu.

The hardliners also seized control of El-Dheer town in Galgudud region from clan militia on Tuesday after brief skirmishes that claimed the lives at least four insurgents and local gunmen.

Merka is a key entry point for the food aid urgently needed by more than a third of Somalia's population.

World Food Programme shipments, already hampered by rampant piracy in Somali waters, generally enter the country either by Merka or by Mogadishu.

"The situation in Merka appears calm ... Merka is a very strategic location for WFP. It's a natural port that we use and plan to continue using," WFP spokesman Peter Smerdon told AFP in Nairobi.