onlineredaktion - The Somalian government has appealed for international assistance from the Arab world to combat al-Qaeda cells it claims are operating in the country. The interior minister, Muhammed Mahmoud Julid, says the government is unable to catch the terrorists and has asked members of the Arab League for financial and logistical help. "Leaders of the international al-Qaeda network are present in Somalia, "Julid said in an interview for the Arab website, al-Arabiya.

"Our secret services have found them and we are trying to arrest them." "These al-Qaeda leaders operate together with the young Mujahadeen movement and old leaders from the Islamic Court in Mogadishu fighting Ethiopian and Somali government troops. "But we are operating in really difficult conditions right now that stop us from catching these terrorists."

The minister, who works from the temporary seat of government in Baidoa, called for help from Arab coun-tries. Without it, he warned that terrorism would threaten the region. "If we don't get some help, we will never be able to win against terrorism and al-Qaeda will find a secure place in Somalia from where it can move and draw terrorists from around the world creating grave danger for the future of the whole region."

According to informed sources quoted by al-Arabiya, the leaders of the young Mujahadeen are found in the village of Abalo inthe provinces of Bakool and Bay.

Among them there are Abu Muhsin al-Ansari, leader of the Mujahadeen and Mukhtar Ali Robow, former commander of the Islamic Court now leader of a coalition of armed opposition forces. Al-Ansari is believed to have attended al-Qaeda training camps in the 1990s and is now head of a Jihadi cell active in the Horn of Africa.