Mogadishu, April 9 (IANS) Somali insurgents Friday banned the rebroadcast of programmes by BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) and VOA (Voice of America) on the FM radio stations in Mogadishu, Xinhua reported.

The militants also seized the equipments of an FM station that relays BBC programmes 24x7 in Mogadishu.

"From today (Friday) onwards all FM (stations) that rebroadcast BBC inside the Islamic Wilayats (regions) shall stop broadcasting and all their equipment will be confiscated," said a statement issued by Al Shabaab, an Islamist group that controls much of south and central Somali regions.

Soon after the statement was issued, fighters from the Islamist rebel movement stormed into an FM station that broadcasts BBC programmes in Mogadishu.

The group accused the BBC of implementing what it termed as the agenda of the coloniser (a term the rebels use to refer to non-Muslims particularly Christians).

Al Shabaab also banned the VOA from rebroadcasting the programmes from its Somali language section in Mogadishu.

Both BBC and VOA use FM stations in Mogadishu and other regions to broadcast their programmes.