Hundreds of Somali refugees have fled to Kenya after rebels suspected of links to al Qaeda seized a Somali town near the border, residents said. Al Shabaab insurgents, who Washington says are a proxy for Osama bin Laden’s group in Somalia, took control of Dhobley on Saturday after chasing rival Hizbul Islam rebels out of town. Al Shabaab said a number of Hizbul Islam leaders had also sought shelter across the border in Kenya after the fighting. “A group of Somalis sneaked in late last night but three trucks with more than 200 Somalis were intercepted by patrol officers at dawn today and all those on board taken back to the border,” said Abdirizak, a Kenyan resident near the border. There were also fears among Kenyan residents that al Shabaab might carry the fight across the border. “We are worried. Al Shabaab has threatened to attack Kenya. They are very close and some of us might leave the border area.” A senior al Shabaab official said in June the insurgents might “invade” Kenya unless it reduced troop numbers along the border near places such as Dhobley. Police deputy commander for the region, Paul Kuria, said security officials were patrolling the frontier. Al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Hassan Yaqub told Reuters that some Hizbul Islam leaders were also now sheltering in Kenya. The two rebel groups have been fighting the Western-backed government in the capital Mogadishu, but a battle for control of the lucrative southern port of Kismayu has pitted the former allies against each other. “I can confirm that Ibrahim Shugri, Moalim Mohamed and Hassan Mahdi passed the so called border between Kenya and Somalia and have reached Garissa,” he said, referring to Hizbul Islam leaders. “Our intelligence informed us they had a meeting with Kenyan officers in a hotel and they want to go on to Nairobi. We’ve been fighting them because they were sent here from Kenya.” Yaqub said that al Shabaab had also met Sheikh Hassan Turki, in Dhobley. The hardline cleric is on a U.S. list of al Qaeda associates in Somalia. Russia plans to start up Iran’s first nuclear power station in March 2010 to coincide with the Iranian New Year, two sources closely involved with the project stated. The sources, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation, both said that Russia had ordered that the plant be ready for operation by the holiday which falls in the second half of March. “We have been given the task of launching the plant by Iranian New Year,” said one of the sources. “There is still a lot of work to do.” The second source added that testing at the plant was going well. Diplomats say Russia uses Bushehr — and major arms contracts — as a lever in relations with Tehran, which is suspected by the United States and other Western powers of seeking to build a nuclear weapon. The United States previously criticized Russia’s involvement in the project but has dropped its opposition and now says the station removes any need for Iran to have its own enrichment program. Russia says the plant is purely civilian and cannot be used for any weapons program as it will come under International Atomic Energy Agency supervision. Iran will have to return all spent fuel rods to Russia. Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko was due to visit the Bushehr plant on Monday. Russia in November said technical issues would prevent its engineers from starting up the Bushehr reactor by the year-end. Moscow had previously said the plant, which is being built by a Russian state-owned company, would be started up in 2009. Iran has defied international pressure to allay fears over its nuclear program and on Sunday President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government said it would build 10 new uranium enrichment plants. The move was condemned by the United States as a clear attempt by the Islamic Republic to isolate itself and Washington warned that time was running out for Iran to address the West’s concerns over its nuclear plans. Russia is “seriously concerned” by the Iranian statement, a source in the Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying by local news agencies. Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has reiterated his party’s commitment to the inclusive Government saying that the arrangement was the only viable option the country could have. He he was quoted by The Herald as saying that it was pertinent that the inclusive Government overcomes challenges that it is facing in implementing the Global Political Agreement. “While we are currently involved in another round of negotiations to overcome obstacles on the implementation of the GPA signed by the three political parties in September 2008, we remain committed to the framework of the inclusive Government,” said PM Tsvangirai. “The vast majority of Zimbabweans see the GPA as the only viable alternative in moving our country forward. Therefore, it is essential that we overcome these current challenges as the legitimacy of this new government is based solely on its ability to deliver prosperity and freedoms to the people of Zimbabwe,” he said. The PM hailed SADC for its role in Zimbabwe and said regional solidarity was important for prosperity. “Indeed it is regional groupings such as this that help us to overcome the historic arbitrary demarcation of nations from the colonial times and allow us to think of ourselves more as a united people with a collective future,” he said. The MDC-T leader, who has over the years denied the existence of economic sanctions on Zimbabwe, has also made a major climb-down and acknowledged the existence of the ruinous embargo, according to local media on Monday. He acknowledged this while addressing a rally in Harare to mark his party’s 10th anniversary. The MDC-T leader had preferred to call the illegal sanctions “restrictive measures” despite their ruinous effects on ordinary Zimbabweans. Tsvangirai told his supporters that the economic sanctions were imposed to coerce Zanu-PF to comply with the party’s demands. “It’s an issue which they (Zanu-PF) have raised in the ongoing negotiations and we are addressing that,” Tsvangirai said.