Islamic militants seize port city in Somalia

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA — Islamic militants said Saturday that they had seized control of Somalia’s third-largest city after three days of fighting that left about 70 people dead and saw thousands flee Kismayo.

The Islamic courts movement, which controlled the capital, Mogadishu, and much of the south for six months in 2006, said it had wrested control of the southern port city of Kismayo from clan militias.

In addition to the 70 people killed during the fighting, which broke out Wednesday, 170 were wounded, said Dr. Ali Hassan of Kismayo Hospital.

Nicole Engelbrecht, a spokeswoman with the International Committee of the Red Cross, said an additional 135 people were reportedly injured in fighting in Afmadow, 70 miles northwest of Kismayo.

In a separate development, two foreign journalists, a Canadian woman and an Australian man, were abducted Saturday while traveling near Mogadishu, Somali government officials said.

A report on the website of Canada’s National Post identified the woman as 27-year-old Amanda Lindhout. The report quoted her father, John Lindhout, as saying she had recently arrived in the country with an Australian friend. An employee at the hotel where the two were staying identified the man only as Nigel, 27.