Somali rebels seize key port as death toll hits 70

KISMAYU, Somalia-Islamist rebels seized control of this strategic port in southern Somalia on Friday after the worst fighting in the area for months killed 70 people, residents said.The loss of Kismayu to the al-Shabaab insurgents was another blow for the interim government, which signed a peace deal with some opposition figures this week that has only seemed to stoke violence racking the Horn of Africa nation.Artillery and gun battles between the rebels and a pro-government clan militia broke out around the port on Wednesday. "Kismayu is under our control. We overpowered them and concluded the fighting," Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, the al-Shabaab spokesman, told Reuters by telephone."We're still chasing those fighters who ran away. The situation is calm and we urge the people to stay peaceful."Local rights activists and residents said 70 people died in three days of clashes. Scores were wounded.Since the start of last year, al-Shabaab rebels have been waging an Iraq-style insurgency of mortar attacks, roadside bombings and assassinations, targeting the fragile interim administration and its Ethiopian military allies.This year, Washington officially listed al-Shabaab as a terrorist organization with close ties to al Qaeda.

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