Somali Jihad Update from [1] AP, with thanks to JE:

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Islamic fighters on Wednesday drove secular militiamen out of a strategic town in southern Somalia following a brief firefight and the fleeing of militia leaders in the middle of the night, witnesses said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, but residents were fleeing for fear of unrest in the town of Jowhar, about 55 miles from the capital of Mogadishu, which the Islamic fighters seized from the secular militiamen last week.

The Islamic Courts Union had been building up troops around Jowhar in recent days to finish off their rivals, the warlord-led Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counterterrorism. The town had been the alliance's last remaining stronghold in southern Somalia.