Mogadishu , October 18, 2006 – Islamic clerics from semi-autonomous of Puntland in northeast Somalia are in Mogadishu for talks with top officials of Islamic Courts about plans to implement the Sharia law in Puntland regions. Sources say on Wednesday.

Sheik Abdulkani Qorane, the leading figure of the religious men who had been in Mogadishu city for the last few days, told the local media that their arrival in Mogadishu was relating to witness the changes in the capital done by the Islamic Courts and to consult with the Islamists over setting up an Islamic administration.

“We are here seeking ways to form an Islamic Court in Puntland peacefully without bloodshed,” Sheikh Qorane said adding they hope to win their mission and reach the sharia law in northeast regions of Somalia.

Regional government of Puntland had already warned the activities of religious clerics who are suspected to have links with Islamic Courts in southern Somalia. The administration of Adde Muse, the president of Puntland state threatened that it will put in jail any one who tries to have connection with Islamists in Mogadishu.

Reports say there has been strong relationship between clerics in Puntland and Islamic Courts in Mogadishu and that might trigger Islamic upraising similar to other towns that had fallen in the hands of Islamic Courts peacefully.

Earlier, Puntland government temporarily banned airliners from Southern Somalia, Mogadishu in particular, from landing at its airport, fearing Islamists infiltration in the province.

It is for the first time clerics from Puntland arrived in Mogadishu since the Islamic Courts took control of most of south and central Somalia after rooting out the warlords that had divided the country into fiefdoms for almost 15 years following the collapse of former regime of Mohamed Said Bare in 1991.

Source: SomaliNet