A truce in Somalia's worst violence in a decade was in danger of collapse on Tuesday after gunmen ambushed a prominent warlord and killed at least two of his men.
The ambush occurred a few hours after a clan elder was shot and seriously wounded while trying to mediate between militias loyal to Islamic courts in Mogadishu and gunmen from a self-styled anti-terrorism alliance of powerful warlords.
Elders had succeeded on Sunday in halting an eight-day battle for control of Mogadishu that killed 150 people and sent hundreds of terrified civilians fleeing from rockets, mortars and heavy machine guns.
The warlord alliance met on Tuesday to decide its response to the ambush of Mohamed Dheere just outside Mogadishu.
"The alliance is not planning any attacks to retaliate against this morning's aggression," Ali Nur, a militiaman for the alliance, told Reuters by telephone.
"I expect them to keep attacking us because they are planning to bring reinforcements but cannot because the alliance has blocked all major roads ... I suspect that's why they attacked Dheere this morning."
A source close to Dheere said a civilian and a fighter for the Islamic courts were also killed in the ambush but Siyad Mohamed, an militia leader, denied this.
Dheere and his militia had arrived from his stronghold in Jowhar at the weekend to join the fighting, the third and by far the fiercest the two sides have waged since February.
Both sides have denied signing a formal truce.
"They (the warlords' alliance) refused to sign a cease-fire deal, so I don't think it will have any impact at all," said Shiekh Sharif Ahmed, chairman of the Islamic courts.
Some residents who had fled the Siisii shanty town in northern Mogadishu where fighting erupted a week ago, were returning to their homes but feared the fighting could break out again at any time, with militiamen still roaming the area.
"I have come without my children to see how it is. Only if it gets better and there's no fighting will I come back with them," one woman said.
Another resident, Farhan Gure, said: "Civilians are on high alert ... because anything can happen as militias from both groups are still facing each other in Siisii."
Peace activist Abdullahi Shirwa, who has mediated between the sides, said the clan elder was shot by the warlords' alliance.
"I understand he went to ask the militia to stop reinforcing their positions and was shot by one of them," he said.
Nur said it was not clear who shot the elder.
Analysts view the fighting as a proxy battle between Islamist militants and Washington, widely believed to be funding the warlords.
The Islamic courts say dollars are being poured into Mogadishu to strengthen their enemies, while the warlords accuse their rivals of having links to al Qaeda.
Somalia's interim government, the 14th try at restoring central rule since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991, is not strong enough to move to Mogadishu from its base in the southern city of Baidoa.
Interim President Abdullahi Yusuf and Islamic leaders have accused Washington of backing the warlords, who call themselves the "Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism" in what some say is a cynical ploy to get US cash.
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