Hardline rebels ban "un-Islamic books"

       Somalia's hardline alShabaab insurgents have warned schools not to use textbooks provided by UN agencies and other donors they accuse of being un-Islamic.
       The rebel group, which Washington says is al-Qaeda's proxy in Somalia, hit the African Union's main base in Mogadishu with twin suicide car bombs on Thursday, killing 17 peacekeepers in a country of growing concern to Western security analysts.
       And in a sign of the insurgents' growing influence in the chaotic city, the rebels issued orders to schools on Saturday.
       "Some UN agencies like Unesco are supplying Somali schools with text books to try to teach our children un-Islamic subjects," al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage told Koranic students gathered at Mogadishu's Nasrudin mosque.
       "I call upon all Somali parents not to send their youngsters to schools with curriculum supported by the UN agencies."