Muslim Terrorists Take Mogadishu

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Muslim terrorists in Somalia claimed to have seized control of the capital, Mogadishu, yesterday after defeating an alliance of American-backed warlords.

Several of the secular chieftains who had controlled the city since the overthrow of the east African country's last effective government 15 years ago were reported to have fled the country.

They had won support from Washington in their conflict with militiamen deployed by the Islamic courts amid fears that a hard-line Muslim administration would be sympathetic to Al Qaeda.

Weeks of violence in Mogadishu have left at least 330 people dead.

Residents reported that fighting continues in some areas, some of it involving artillery and mortar bombing.

But the leader of the Islamic militia, Sheik Sharif Sheik, read a statement on the radio claiming the warlords' fiefdoms were now under the control of the courts.