Somali Jihad Update: “Wanted terrorist to head Somali ‘parliament,'” from The Australian, with thanks to all who sent this in:
MOGADISHU: Somali Islamists have named as the head of their new “parliament” a firebrand cleric wanted by the US for alleged links to al-Qa’ida.
Officials said Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys — a wanted “terrorist” in the US — had been chosen to lead the Council of Islamic Courts, which will serve as a parliament for regions under the courts’ control.
The appointment came as the body of a Swedish journalist, who was shot in the back and killed while covering a rally in Mogadishu on Friday, was being flown back to Sweden.
The assailant of Martin Adler, 47, has not been caught but the ruling militia said the killing was planned by a foreign enemy that wanted to shatter weeks of relative peace since the Islamic militia took over from a US-backed warlord alliance in Mogadishu earlier this month.