KISMAYO,(insidesomalia.org)- - Heavily-armed gunmen loyal to Somalia’s Islamic Courts movement have seized the strategic port of Kismayo, in the south of the country, reliable sources confirmed to Radio Garowe.

Abdi Bashi, a clan elder in Kismayo, told Radio Garowe during a Friday interview that the town is “calm and the bullets have stopped.”

“The Islamic Courts and al Shabaab control Kismayo,” Mr. Bashi said, adding that the town’s former clan rulers have fled.

He described the Islamists as an “alliance of local clans” who coalesced to expel Marehan clan militias from Kismayo, after they ruled the town with an iron grip since April 2007.

Kismayo, 500km south of Mogadishu, was the scene of two days of heavy fighting that killed at least 35 people and wounded upwards of 70 others, according to medical sources and witnesses.

Islamist commanders were scheduled to speak publicly in Kismayo for the first time since the Islamic Courts were routed out by Ethiopian-backed government forces in early 2007.

Inside sources said Marehan clan militias – led by warlord-turned-parliamentarian Barre Hirale – had suffered heavy losses and that Hirale’s personal car was seized by Islamist fighters.

Somalia’s interim government has not commented on the fighting in Kismayo yet.

Source: Garowe Online