MOGADISHU — Fierce fighting between rival militias for control of a central Somali town left at least 11 people dead on Saturday, witnesses said.

 

Residents contacted by AFP said the hardline Islamist Shebab insurgents had taken control of Dhuusamareeb, though the government-allied Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa group also claimed victory.

“We have taken control of the city after brief fighting and we killed many of them during brief clashes inside the city,” Sheikh Ali Muhamud Rage, the Shebab spokesman, told reporters in Mogadishu.

But an Ahlu Sunna spokesman said his group still held the town.

“The Shebab militia launched (an) attack on the city from (an) unexpected direction but they lost in the battle and our forces are still controlling the city,” Sheikh Abdurahman Abu Yussuf said.

“Many of their dead bodies are still laying in the streets.”

More than 10 people had died in the fighting he added.

Locals contacted by telephone confirmed that Shebab militants had taken control of the city.

“I saw the dead bodies of 13 people, most of them combatants, inside the town and the Shebab fighters are now in full control of the town,” Abdulahi Mohamed Shekeye, a Dhuusamareeb resident said.

“I see them chanting Allah Akbar (God is the greatest),” he added.

Another resident, Moalim Hasan, said: “More than 10 people died inside the town and 18 others were injured, there is sporadic gunfire outside the town and the situation is not quite (calm) yet.”

Founded in 1991 to promote moderate Sufi Islam in Somalia, Ahlu Sunna renounced its posture of non-violence in early 2009 to engage in armed struggle against the radical Shebab and their allies from the Hizb al-Islam movement.

The group has in the past inflicted a number of defeats on the Shebab.

While the Ahlu Sunna leadership does not fully recognise President Sherif Sheikh Ahmed’s transitional government, it too wants to rid Somalia of the Shebab and its Al-Qaeda inspired ideology.

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Source: AFP

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