Somalia ? The port city of Kismayo is the setting for a major showdown Saturday between Somalia’s government forces and some 3,000 Muslim militiamen.

“We are going to advance from different directions to try and encircle the city and force the Islamic group to minimize the loss of civilians,” government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari told The Associated Press.

Kismayo is about 100 miles from Kenya, and the Somali government and its Ethiopian allies hope to close the net before the al-Qaida suspects can slip out of the country.

The Council of Islamic Courts, the umbrella group for the country’s Islamic movement, had grown steadily in power for six months, until the dramatic entry into the war by Ethiopian troops last week. Ethiopian soldiers have swept quickly across the country since Dec. 24, retaking territory captured by the Islamic movement earlier this year.