KISMAYO, Somalia Sep 30 (Garowe Online) - Somalia's most powerful rebel groups, Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, have declared war on each other after weeks of political wrangling, Radio Garowe reports.

Two spokesmen speaking for Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam held separate press conferences Thursday in Kismayo and Mogadishu, respectively.

Sheikh Hassan Yakub, spokesman for the Al Shabaab administration in Kismayo, told reporters that Al Shabaab "will defend Kismayo" against outside forces.

"We urge the people of Kismayo to defend their one-year old administration against an attack by Sheikh Ahmed Madobe, who is part of Hizbul Islam," the spokesman said on Al Shabaab-run Radio Al-Andulus in Kismayo, a strategic port city located 500km south of Mogadishu.

He said "crimes have returned" after the Kismayo public relaxed during Al Shabaab's one-year reign of peace, naming crimes such as "murders and women throwing off their clothes."

'War across Somalia'

Hizbul Islam spokesman Sheikh Ismail Haji Addow told reporters in Mogadishu that Hizbul Islam fighters "will defend Kismayo" and vowed to wage "war across Somalia" if fighting starts in Kismayo.

"If bullets begin in Kismayo, it will impact the entire country. Bullets will start everywhere our fighters are…we oppose Al Shabaab's so-called power," said the Hizbul Islam spokesman.

He noted that Hizbul Islam controls many regions in Somalia and "knows" areas under the control of Al Shabaab, adding: "We will not allow any group to claim power in areas we control."

Sheikh Addow said Al Shabaab commanders proposed that Hizbul Islam "join Al Shabaab, join the Somali Government or become members of the public."

"Hizbul Islam is an organization that exists and that has power. We will never surrender our weapons to any group or just leave," added the Hizbul Islam spokesman.

Kismayo sources say rival fighters from each side have "mounted weapons" atop the port town's storied buildings in preparation for an eventual war.

Some local businesses were closed down on Thursday, as residents feared the eruption of fighting among the Islamist rebels, who are fighting to topple Somalia's interim government in Mogadishu.

If Al Shabaab fights Hizbul Islam, then Al Shabaab will be the only group to have battled every other group in south-central Somalia, including Somali government forces, African Union peacekeepers and Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamee'a militiamen.

'New jihad'

Sh. Aweys, Hizbul Islam rebel chief

Meanwhile, Hizbul Islam rebel chief Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who declared a new jihad on the government of his former ally, Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, has declined to comment on the Al Shabaab-Hizbul Islam rift over Kismayo.

Sheikh Aweys spoke on Wednesday in Elasha Biyaha area, in the southern outskirts of Mogadishu, where makeshift displaced people's camps have transformed into a city of its own since 2007. He said the area's new name will be Lafole and administered by Hizbul Islam.

"It is our duty to fight AMISOM [African Union peacekeepers], because they are an enemy who invaded our country," Sheikh Aweys told supporters. On the Kismayo conflict, he said: "The dispute will be resolved."

Hizbul Islam is led by Sheikh Aweys and Sheikh Hassan "Turki" Abdullahi, two long-time Islamist leaders in Somalia. The U.S. government accuses Al Shabaab's reclusive commanders of direct links to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Source: Garowe Online