Free Republic

Reuters) - One of Somalia's most prominent Islamist rebel commanders, arrested by a regional administration, was flown to the capital Mogadishu on Saturday, where he agreed to hold talks with the federal government about his fate, Somali officials said. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, whose capture was a boost to Mogadishu in its battle against Islamist insurgents, was detained in central Somalia and then taken to the town of Adado. Much of Somalia has been stabilized after two decades of turmoil by a campaign that drove back the militant group al Shabaab. But the federal government, in charge for less than...

A VICTORIAN court has found three men guilty of planning a terrorist attack on an Australian army base in Sydney. Another two men who also stood trial over the alleged planned attack have been found not guilty. The Victorian Supreme Court trial, which has been running for three months, was told the five Victorian men planned a shootout at the Australian army barracks at Holsworthy in Sydney in the belief Islam was under attack from the west. The jury heard the men took steps to obtain a religious decree to endorse the attack at the barracks and shoot as many...

Note: Photo included. Photo caption: "Hizbul Islam leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys." # A senior Islamist leader and ally of al Qaeda has called for additional suicide attacks against African Union peacekeepers operating in Mogadishu. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the leader of Hizbul Islam, or the Party of God, called for more suicide attacks during a sermon in the town of Elashabiyah, just outside Mogadishu. "I also call upon the people to carry out more attacks against the African forces; they came to Somalia to assist our enemy, kill them ... in any way possible and use suicide attacks to...

SNIPPET: "The two main Islamist terror groups battling the weak Somali government may merge into a single outfit. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the leader of Hizbul Islam or the Party of Islam, said he is working to unite his faction with Shabaab, an al Qaeda-backed Islamic terror group that has lobbied to join the international terrorist organization. Aweys said talks were proceeding and urged followers to continue to fight until they achieve "victory over enemies" of Islam."" SNIPPET: "Al Qaeda has increasingly focused on Somalia as being a major theater in their efforts to drive the West from African, the...

A hardline Somali leader on a U.N. list of terror suspects claimed Tuesday to be making progress in uniting two Islamist insurgent factions as a single front against the Western-backed government. Militiamen loyal to Islamic Party leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys have been fighting side-by-side in recent weeks with al-Shabab, an extremist Islamist group considered by the U.S. State Department to be a terrorist organization with links to al-Qaida. Al-Shabab denies that. "Talks to unite al-Shabab and the Islamic Party are at an advanced stage,"

At least six people were killed Saturday afternoon in the Somali capital Mogadishu after Islamist hardliners attacked African Union peacekeepers (AMISOM), Radio Garowe reports. The fighting began after armed groups launched mortars at an AMISOM base home to Burundian soldiers, witnesses said. Several mortars hit residential areas in Hodan and Howlwadaag districts, killing at least six civilians and wounding nearly 25 people. "Two people were killed in Howlwadaag [district] including my brother," witness Ahmed Salad told Mogadishu-based radio stations. Another witness said he saw three dead civilians at Bakara Market, the country's largest marketplace, saying that shells hit inside the...

The Somali government and the Islamist opposition agreed to implement a dormant ceasefire deal, paving the way for pro-government Ethiopian troops to quit the country. The accord calls for the ceasefire, which was first signed in June, to finally come into force November five, said Susannah Price, spokeswoman for the UN envoy to Somalia. The deal also calls for Ethiopian troops to pull out of areas in Mogadishu and the central town of Beledweyne by November 21, leaving them under the control of African Union troops in Somalia (AMISOM), said Price. The agreement said "the second phase of Ethiopian troop...

Radical militias take over Somalia's capital By Craig Timberg, Los Angeles Times - Washington Post Somali: A group of largely moderate Muslim leaders who took control of Somalia's capital a month ago has been pushed aside in recent days by radicals determined to create a strict Islamic state there, according to Somali and other political analysts. Leading the drive has been Hassan Dahir Aweys, whom the United Nations and the United States consider a terrorist with ties to Al Qaida. Aweys's June 24 appointment as head of the militias ruling Mogadishu, the capital, has been followed by the installation of...

MOGADISHU, Somalia - A fundamentalist Muslim who is listed by the U.S. State Department as a suspected al-Qaida collaborator was named Saturday as the new leader of an Islamic militia that has seized control of Somalia's capital. The militia, which changed its name Saturday from the Islamic Courts Union to the Conservative Council of Islamic Courts, said in a statement it had appointed Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys as its new leader. The Bush administration says Aweys was an associate of Osama bin Laden in the early 1990s. The Islamic militia seized control of the capital Mogadishu and much of southern...

NAIROBI, Kenya - An influential religious leader and alleged al-Qaida collaborator vowed in an interview Wednesday to establish an Islamic state in Somalia, a lawless Horn of Africa nation the United States fears could grow into a major base for Islamic terrorists. "The Western world should respect our own ideas in choosing the way we want to govern our country, the way we want to go about our own business. That is our right," said Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, a key figure in a growing religious camp vying with secular factions for control of Somalia. Despite peace talks and the...