MOGADISHU (Xinhua) — Islamist insurgents have peacefully taken over the coastal town of Marka in the south of Somalia and announced the formation of an Islamic administration, local residents and reports from the southern town said Sunday.

“There were no fighting in the town (of Marka) and we just saw Islamist forces in the town and their commanders speaking with people in the town,” Aden Omar, a local resident told Xinhua by phone.

Yusuf Siyad Indha Adde, the Defense Secretary for the main opposition group, the Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia (ARS), who led the Islamist forces that took over the town, spoke with local residents.

“We will form an Islamic administration for this town, which will represent all residents of this town, which will not be governed other than by the Islamic law,” Indha Adde told a crowd of people who gathered near the town hall.

The takeover came days after two senior local officials, the deputy regional governor, and vice chief of police, who were allegedly government appointed but insurgent sympathizers, were killed when their vehicle hit a landmine in Marka, the provincial capital of Lower Shabelle, 90 km south of Mogadishu.

Indha Adde said that the officials were not killed by opposition fighters and he thanked the two officials for “keeping their promise with the insurgents”, a reference that indicated link between the two sides.

Marka, a relatively peaceful town, has recently been the scene of numerous attacks on local and international humanitarian workers.

Tag: Ethiopia, Somalia