12 killed in Mogadishu over sinful cinema houses
Somalia, Local, 11/15/2005

Some12 Somalis were at least killed and other 21 injured in the most recent wave of fighting overwhelming the capital Mogadishu, over differences on closing several cinema houses and entertaining centers.

The clashes erupted between gunmen supporters for what is called "the Islamic courts" in Mogadishu and local militias protecting a crowded area in the capital on Saturday, and renewed on Monday.

Witnesses said that three persons were killed on Sunday and other nine on Monday in clashes that pushed people to flee from the area and close the trade centers.

Leaders of the Islamic court, who are influential in Mogadishu, oppose Western and Indian films which they say promote adultery among the people whose majority are Muslims.

It was possible to hear intensive gunfire from all parts of Mogadishu which is inhabited by one million inhabitants of the ten million Somalis. The capital has become the place of street fights along 14 years of chaos.

News reports quoted the chairman of the Islamic courts in Mogadishu Sheikh Sharif Ahmad as saying that operating the cinema houses since morning until midnight prevents children from going to school, adding that the operators of those films show films to children where children of similar age in the countries producing these films would be prohibited from seeing such movies.

The Islamic courts had detonated one studio dedicated for video recording in October, where Indian films are dubbed to the Somali dialect, and its instruments were damaged and many of its workers detained.

Worthy mentioning that the new Somali President Abdullah Youssef returned back from Kenya to Somalia this year but failed to impose his authority and established a base for his rule in Jawhar, outside Mogadishu because of the lack of security in the capital.

Rival war lords run this country which is situated in the African horn since the toppling of dictator Muhammad Seyad Berri 14 years before.

Previous Stories:
  Cruise ship escapes hijack near Somali coast   (11/7/2005)
  Somalia: UN welcomes investigation into staff member's murder   (10/7/2005)
  Puntland detains al-Qaida official   (9/24/2005)

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