Mogadishu - Somali Islamist fighters fired at a crowd in Mogadishu protesting against a ban on the popular narcotic leaf khat, killing one person and wounding others, witnesses said on Thursday.
"One person was shot dead and two others have been wounded," an Islamist source who declined to be named said.
"They were burning tyres and throwing stones at Islamic Courts troops who opened fire."
Since taking over Mogadishu and a swathe of southern Somalia in June, the religious movement has tried to outlaw khat trading and smoking, saying it encourages immorality.
But that has been unpopular with the Horn of Africa nation's many smokers of the leaf, and among traders who make a lively business importing khat from neighbouring countries.
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Adan Ahmed, a resident of the Bar Ubah district where dealers led the demonstration, said Islamist fighters fired at a highly-charged crowd.
"I saw them shooting at the crowd," he said.
"There were so many people. Business have come to a standstill here."
Mogadishu airport's managing director Abdirahim Adan said the Islamists seized two tonnes of the narcotic leaf when it arrived on a plane. "We have handed over the consignment to the security department (of the Islamic Courts)," he said.
The Islamists initially won wide praise for bringing relative law and order to Mogadishu after kicking out US-backed warlords. But Somalis say there is increasing disillusionment with their hardline practices.
As well as banning khat, the Islamists have been closing public cinemas and, some Mogadishu residents say, enforcing strict dress codes.
Critics say the Islamists are Taliban-like extremists, who harbour al-Qaeda-linked radicals. But Islamist leaders deny that, saying they merely wish to bring order via sharia law to their nation.
Somalia has been in chaos since the 1991 ouster of a dictator by warlords.
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