115 Die in Government Offensive on Somali Militants

Associated Press

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MOGADISHU, Somalia –  A government offensive against al-Qaida-linked militants largely subsided Sunday as officials said that at least 115 people had been killed since the violence started several days ago.

Ali Muse, the chief of the Mogadishu ambulance service, said that 49 civilians had died and 157 had been wounded since the government launched the operation Wednesday.

In addition, at least 60 militants have been killed along with six peacekeepers, according to Biyereke Floribert, a spokesman for the Burundian peacekeepers who are serving in the African Union force backing the Somali government.

Muse said heavy fighting had subsided but sporadic gunfire still could be heard. The militants were regrouping to plan retaliatory attacks but "we are ready for them," Floribert said.

Al-Shabab has pledged allegiance to al-Qaida and controls much of the capital, and southern and central Somalia.

On Sunday, al-Shabab spokesman Sheik Ali Mohammed Rage also threatened neighboring Kenya for allegedly helping Somali government troops and their allies attack the militants' bases.

The militant group includes veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts who have trained Somalis in tactics like suicide bombs and sniper fire. The group carried out a double suicide bombing in Uganda in July that killed 76 people.

Somali civilians have borne the brunt of two decades of conflict in their country. In November, the ambulance service said that more than 4,200 bystanders have died in warfare over the last two years.

The country's weak U.N.-backed government has long promised a full-scale war against militants, but coordination among its poorly trained government forces has held up that push.

Somalia's Defense Minister Abdihakim Fiqi said late Saturday that government forces and their allies are making progress in the offensive.

"The operations we started will continue until we defeat the enemy and we will not repeat the past mistakes in which territories reclaimed by our armed forces were abandoned," he said.

Abdirizak Qeylow, spokesman for Somalia's Ministry of Information, said that government troops already have captured several rebel-held positions.

The Somali government said earlier in the week that 17,000 African Union and Somali troops are involved in the assault to reclaim territories held by al-Shabab starting with the capital, Mogadishu.

Meanwhile, relative calm had returned to the northern Kenyan town of Mandera, which borders the Somali town of Belet Hawo, after stray bullets and artillery fire had crossed to the Kenyan side.

Earlier in the week, one woman died and 17 other Kenya-Somalis in Mandera were wounded after they were hit by stray bullets from the fighting in Belet Hawo between militia and government troops, according to Kenya Red Cross spokesman Titus Mungou.

Mungou said the ominous calm has allowed Red Cross officials to start the registration of refugees fleeing Somalia.

___

Associated Press Writer Tom Odula in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this report.

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Latest Videos February 27, 2011Sun, 27 Feb 2011 15:38:27 GMT10:02 AM EST

Conrad: Two-Week Extension of Government Budget Could Contain GOP Cuts

AP

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., talks to reporters on Capitol Hill

Senate Democrats could agree to a two-week resolution to keep government operating that contains $4 billion in spending cuts, but a long-term budget deal is still elusive, the Senate's top Democrat on the budget said Sunday.

"It is acceptable to me to have $4 billion in savings in a two-week package, sure. The makeup of that, you know, is up for discussion and negotiation. That negotiation is ongoing. And I'm confident we'll achieve conclusion on that," Sen. Kent Conrad told CNN's "State of the Union."

But Conrad, D-N.D., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said he's not willing to support the Republican proposal to chop $100 billion in spending for the rest of the fiscal year because it could cut employment rolls, which are already struggling under a near jobless recovery. He gave highway spending as an example of a place where Republicans want to cut back but could create more joblessness.

"Highway spending, which I think most everybody says is badly needed in this country, creates American jobs, and also makes America more competitive. Does it make sense to be cutting there? Many of us don't think so," he said.

Conrad pointed to a recent Goldman Sachs study that indicates that if you do that large cuts in government spending in the second and third quarter of this year could reduce economic growth 1.5 to 2 percent.

"That's a million jobs. So does that make sense when you -- one in every six Americans is unemployed or underemployed? I don't think so," Conrad said. 

But Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill., said the Goldman analysis makes a fundamental flaw. 

"Every dollar we take out of the public sector will go into the private sector, and it will go to grow the economy," he said in an interview that aired on ABC.

Congress has failed to secure a budget for the 2011 fiscal year, even though it began on Oct. 1, 2010. As a result, it has been spending for government expenditures at the 2010 level, which foresaw a $1.3 trillion deficit before it was even passed. 

Now, with a $1.5 trillion deficit for this year, and an expected $1.65 trillion deficit in the budget proposed by President Obama for next year, lawmakers are realizing they must start looking beyond discretionary spending and focus on entitlements.

"If we're going to ultimately solve this problem, we're going to have to do much more than consider only 12 percent of the budget," Conrad said, adding that balancing the budget could take 10 years. 

"The only way we are going to deal with this problem is a 10-year plan that is comprehensive," he said.

Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., said a temporary agreement to extend the budget for two weeks doesn't recognize that the tax rate structure is the ongoing problem with balancing the budget. He said keeping down the top rate has "created this much more serious deficit situation going forward." 

"We've been ignoring for years the reality of what has happened in the super rich level of income in this country. We should have several higher top tax brackets. It shouldn't stop at a couple hundred thousand dollars. We have incomes -- we have shortstops making $15 million who are paying the same tax rate as, you know, two UCLA married professors. This is outrageous. ...And so we're ignoring this massive revenue possibility in the high end of incomes in this country," he said.

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Latest Politics Videos February 27, 2011Sun, 27 Feb 2011 21:30:23 GMT4:02 PM EST