At least 10 people have been killed in fighting near the town of Webho.

The clashes come after the Sufi Ahlu Sunna Waljamea sect pledged to defend President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed at a meeting of moderate Islamic leaders.

An Islamist alliance controls much of southern and central Somalia but pro-government forces have been on the offensive in recent days.

Correspondents say the Sufi sect has been angered recently by the desecration of the graves of revered Sufi leaders by the al-Shabab group which follows the strict Saudi Arabian-inspired Wahabi branch of Islam.

“We are ready to stand by the government of Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. We will defend it and we will fight the rebels,” said Ahlu Sunna Waljamea’s Sheikh Ali after meeting the president in Mogadishu on Thursday.

At the meeting, President Ahmed said he was no longer open to talks with the Islamist hardliners.

“We will fight to the death until peace is assured,” he said.

A spokesman for al-Shabab, which is accused of links to al-Qaeda, said its forces were in control of Webho but this was denied by Ahlu Sunna Waljamea.

The town has changed hands several times in recent weeks.

The president is a moderate Islamist who was installed in January after a UN-brokered peace deal.

Somalia has not had a functioning national government for 18 years.

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