Somali parliament speaker 'alive and well'

The government needs militiamen for protection

Reports from Somalia say the speaker of the country's transitional parliament, Abdallah Derow Issak, is alive and well.

Mr Issak was reported missing on Saturday after narrowly surviving a rebel attack.

Latest reports say he is still in the Bakol region, north-west of the capital, Mogadishu, where the attack took place.

One report said pro-government militias were on their way to rescue Mr Issak and the rest of his delegation, which included senior officials and a minister.

Rahanwein Resistance Army fighters killed at least nine of the speaker's armed escort while he was touring the country to summon up support for the new interim government, which is facing opposition from several faction leaders.

The interim government in Mogadishu has made no official comment on the incident.

Anti-aircraft guns

The RRA fighters, sent from the town of Baidoa, attacked Mr Issak's delegation on Saturday morning.

Independent sources say they used double-barrelled anti-aircraft guns to disperse the forces protecting Mr Issak, and seized a quantity of equipment.

Mr Issak was previously the secretary-general of the RRA, but fell out with RRA leader Hassan Mohamed Nur Shargudud, after Mr Shargudud withdrew support from Somalia's transitional government, led by President Abdulkassim Salat Hassan.

President Abdulkassim was elected Somali leader at a reconciliation conference in Djibouti last August.

Mr Shargudud withdrew support for him October. One reason he gave was that the interim parliament was not moving to Baidoa.

The Ethiopian Government is said to have trained thousands of militia for the RRA and deployed troops on their behalf to capture territory inside Somalia, though Addis Ababa has always denied such reports.