Hundreds protested today against the Islamist takeover of the capital of Somalia.

Reports described the city fracturing along familiar tribal lines as surrender talks between Islamist fighters and defeated warlords broke down.

Yesterday the Islamic Courts Union, a coalition of militants with alleged links to al-Qaeda, said it had taken control of Mogadishu. Today militias intent on instilling Islamic law started to push out of Mogadishu to overrun nearby towns

At least 1,000 protesters, from the Abgal clan, a faction of the Hawiye tribe that used to control much of northern Mogadishu, rallied in a football stadium and on the streets.

"We want to establish an Abgal sub-clan defence line, politically and militarily," said Hussein Sheikh Ahmed, an Abgal leader. "Advances into Abgal territory should be halted immediately."

Tribal factions have fought over Mogadishu for more than a decade after the fall of the dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and the subsequent collapse of the US mission to the country in 1994 left Somalia in a state of anarchy.

But in recent months, the stop-start conflict had hardened into a running battle between the Islamic Courts Union, which has won support by building schools and clinics and enforcing Islamic law through Sharia courts, and a "counter-terrorism" alliance thought to be backed by the US.

Around 350 people, most of them civilians caught in the crossfire, have been killed since February, as guns, armoured vehicles and heavy weaponry poured into the capital and its notorious Bakaraaha Arms Market.

Today's protests, which were left unhindered by Islamist militias, came as the interim Somali Prime Minister, Mohamed Ali Gedi, congratulated the Muslim forces on taking control of the city.

Although Somalia's fragile, UN-sponsored Government opposes making the country an Islamic state, Mr Gedi recently fired four secular warlords from his Cabinet to distance himself from the unpopular US-backed coalition, known as the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT).

Mr Gedi called the Islamist victory, which the US fears could lead to the development of a Taleban-style African state, "an excellent step forward" today, telling Radio France Internationale that the fallen warlords had been "hurting the reconciliation, stabilisation and pacification of Somalia".

Meanwhile, Islamist forces pushed north today, seeking to cut the lines that supply their rivals in Mogadishu. Siyad Mohamed, a leader in the Islamic Courts Union, told Reuters that his fighters were advancing on Jowhar, a warlord stronghold about 90km (56 miles) north of the capital.

"We are just waiting for orders from our leaders to capture it," he said.

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