The leader of a Somali Islamist militant group told VOA Somali Servicein an exclusive interview Saturday that his militants will keepfighting, even though the conflict has recently led to about 2,000civilian deaths, and turned half-a-million Somalis into refugees intheir own country.
Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the leader ofthe militant group Hizbul Islam, said his fighters will keep battlingthe Somali government, and African Union peacekeepers in every possibleway.
He defended tactics such as firing mortars from areaspopulated by civilians, saying "The Mujahid (holy warrior) is like afish ... the population is his water." Aweys added, "The populationacts like a shield and we operate out of them." He also defendedsuicide attacks, calling them part of the resistance.
Sincereturning from exile in May, Aweys, a former Somali army colonel, iscredited with building Hizbul Islam into a powerful force that,together with the Islamist militant group al-Shabab, has taken controlof many parts of southern Somalia, including much of the capital ofMogadishu.
The militants are trying to overthrow Somalia'smoderate Islamic government and replace it with a regime that willimpose strict Islamic Sharia law.