BBC: (h/t miss kitty)

At least 1,000 residents of the central Somali town of Dusamareb have held a protest against a deadly US attack.

The missile strike on Thursday killed the leader of a group which the US links to al-Qaeda. At least 10 others died when a house in the town was hit.

One of the protest organisers said people feared further strikes by US forces on the town.[..]

In Dusamareb, people protested against Thursday's US strike, shouting slogans such as "Down with the Bush administration".

One of the organisers, Abdirasak Moalim Ahmed, told the Associated Press news agency: "Our town has been severely affected by the recent US attack and still we fear because planes continue to fly over our city."[..]

Al-Shabab, which the US says is linked with al-Qaeda, controls parts of central and southern Somalia.

The group says it is a purely Somali movement and denies involvement with al-Qaeda.

Is anyone else suspicious of the ease in which the Bush administration paints any and all Islamist movements under the umbrella of "al Qaeda"? Fool the American people once, shame on you. Try to fool the American people over and over and over....

I don't know what to think of this. Something tells me this is not the last time we'll hear about the Islamists in Somalia. I find the statement that this is the "end" of terrorism in the country a bit ironic, to say the least.

GuardianUK: (h/t Gregory)

Not a shot was fired yet the Somali jihad was suddenly over...
Their fortress fell without a shot. After just nine days of clashes in Somalia's hinterland, the Islamists who had vowed to fight to the death abandoned Mogadishu, the city they had governed since June. From having controlled most of southern and central Somalia, they were holed up yesterday in the southern port city of Kismaayo, facing annihilation by Ethiopian troops.

Ali Mohamed Ghedi, Prime Minister in Somalia's transitional government - an irrelevance until last week - rode triumphantly into Mogadishu on Friday, announcing the end of 'terrorism' in the country. Ethiopia, which together with the US has stoked fears about the rise of a terrorist state in the Horn of Africa, was basking in the success of a campaign that was swifter and more successful than anyone had predicted.

'Nobody expected the Islamists to show this little political resilience,' said Matt Bryden, a consultant to the conflict-monitoring body, International Crisis Group. 'They were the first movement to pacify southern Somalia for 16 years, yet they crumbled like a pack of cards.'

Despite US and Ethiopian optimism, it remains unclear whether the military victory represents a new dawn for Somalia or merely a return to anarchy and the beginning of a deadly new insurgency. Read on...

UPDATE: Call me prescient: Somali, Ethiopian troops fight Islamic militants