Nepal News.Net

Saturday 2nd January, 2010

Many people have been been killed in fighting in central Somalia between a Sufi Muslim group and al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militants

Heavily-armed al-Shabab fighters have been trying to gain control of towns run by fighters from the Ahlu-Sunna group.

Dhusamareb town, about 500 kilometres from Mogadishu, has been attacked by mortars with many fighters from both sides killed.

Most of the residents of the town have fled to avoid more of the violence from the Islamist rivals.

Ahlu-Sunna took up arms against al-Shabab more than a year ago, after al-Shabab militants destroyed religious symbols and desecrated the grave of a revered Sufi cleric.

Al-Shabab, an ultra-conservative Islamic group, was propagated by al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Al-Shabab has been trying to eradicate Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam, which has deep roots in Somalia.