June 21, 2009 at 9:33 AM

MOGADISHU, Somalia, June 21 (UPI) --

A top Somalian official is seeking help from the country's neighbors saying emergency military backup is needed to keep Islamist rebels in check.

Militants can only be repelled with help from Yemen, Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia, Parliament Speaker Sheik Aden Mohamed Nur Madobe said Saturday.

In two days of heavy fighting, the militants established strongholds in north Mogadishu, forcing thousands of people to flee neighborhoods that once provided refuge from violence in other parts of the capital city, Voice of America reported Sunday.

In separate attacks last week, rebels killed Omar Hashi Aden, Somalia's security minister, and Mohammed Hussein Adow, a prominent lawmaker, VOA reported.

Kenya said it was considering sending troops to Somalia but had taken no action as of Sunday.

"We will not sit back and watch the situation in Somalia deteriorate

beyond where it is," Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula said Friday. "We have a duty -- a constitutional duty as a country and as a government -- to protect our strategic interests including our security."

Somalia asks for international troops

Associated Press

Saturday, June 20, 2009 11:08 p.m. MDT

MOGADISHU, Somalia —

Somali lawmakers pleaded Saturday for international military intervention within 24 hours to help fight insurgents in the lawless African nation, where fierce fighting has resumed in the capital.

A suicide attack in western Somalia killed the country's national security minister and four other government officials on Thursday. And battles between rebels and government troops have left at least 10 people dead in Mogadishu since Friday, witnesses said.

The fighting also forced the Parliament to meet in the presidential palace Saturday rather than its usual venue in northern Mogadishu.

"We have, as a parliament, decided to ask the regional governments — like Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti — as well as the international community to intervene militarily in Somalia within 24 hours to help the Somali nation," said Parliament speaker Sheik Adam Mohamed Nor.

President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, who is also a member of parliament, did not take part but it was not clear why.

There was no immediate indication whether Somalia's neighbors would answer the Parliament's plea for foreign troops. There is already an African Union force in Mogadishu, but its mandate is restricted to guarding government officials and installations.