Somali opposition says could fight UN peacekeepers

Somalia's new hard-line opposition leader promised Friday to pacify his shattered country through Islamic law, warning U.N. peacekeepers they will face attack if they deploy and support the government. Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, whose Islamic regime was ousted from power in 2006 with tacit support from the United States, is gaining influence again as a deadly insurgency ruptures Somalia. Thousands have been killed in the fighting since 2007. This week, Aweys took over the Islamist opposition movement, which operates in exile in Eritrea, pushing out a more moderate cleric who signed a peace agreement with Somalia's U.N.-backed government last month. "Fighting U.N. peacekeepers depends on how they behave in Somalia," Aweys told The Associated Press in an interview that touched on subjects ranging from accusations of terrorism —... [read full story]