Friday, May 15, 2009
"The fighting broke out in the southern outskirts of Mahas and five people died, some of the dead are combatants," Sheikh Abdi Mohammed, commander of the radical Islamists fighters told AFP by telephone. Eight other people were injured, he said.
Abdi Rahman Ali, an Islamic village elder confirmed the five dead and said sporadic gunfire was still rattling in outlying parts of the village.
"We see heavily armed Shebab fighters patrolling the village and many people are fleeing the village," said Ali.
Hezb al-Islamiya fighters allied to Shebab radicals claimed to have taken total control of the the village, some 300 kilometres (180 miles) northeast of the capital, after the clashes with government forces.
"We have swept them out of the region. Our forces are in complete control of the area," said Sheikh Mohammed.
On Tuesday, pro-government forces attacked the radical Shebab militants based in the same village, sparking heavy fighting in which four fighters and four civilians were killed.
Both warring sides claimed control of the contested village.
The Shebab who are fiercely opposed to the moderate Islamist government of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed have taken control of large swathes of central and southern Somalia.
Somalia has had no central authority since the 1991 ouster of former president Mohamed Siad Barre sparked internecine fighting.
Source: AFP, May 15, 2009