The Islamist leader of Somalia's Hizbul- Islam rebel group Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys dismissed the declarations of the country's most respected Islamic scholars, who were in attendance at the recently concluded Garowe Islamic conference, Radio Garowe reports.

The Islamic conference was held last month in Garowe, capital of Puntland in northern Somalia, where more than 50 respected Somali clerics declared that the ongoing war in Somalia as un-Islamic.

Aweys defended the war his waging against the foreign troops and UN-backed government as “in accordance with Islamic law.’

“The war we are waging is in accordance with Islamic law, because we are not after power. We want to implement Sharia Law in the country,” said the 65-year old cleric.

“We are equally fighting AMISOM and the TFG, because they all oppose the efforts by Islamist groups to impose Islamic rule in the country,” he said.

He accused the scholars of verbal support for the government of Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, and diverting from the true path of Islam.

Last month, the clerics met in Puntland administrative capital Garowe and jointly issued a 12 point communiqué where they agreed that the war that is going on in Somalia is an "incitement" rather than a holy war (jihad), as claimed by the Islamist insurgent factions like Hizbul Islam and Al Shabaab.

Islamist groups, who are determined to overthrow the current interim government in Mogadishu, claim they want to impose Shari'ah law throughout Somalia, while accusing the current government of being a Western "puppet".

GAROWE ONLINE