Six killed in internecine fighting in Somalia: locals

MOGADISHU (AFP) – Six combatants died Saturday in central Somalia in clashes between rival Islamist militia groups while another seven were injured, local elders told AFP.

The morning fighting pitted members of the extremist Islamist Shebab and local supporters of a rival group, Ahlu Sunna Wal-jamaah, in the suburbs of Guriel, some 400 kilometers (249 miles) north of the capital Mogadishu.

Besides the six dead, another seven combatants were wounded, elder Mohamed Warsame Hirsi told AFP.

"Both sides are still facing each other in the outskirts of the town," he added.

Resident Abdifatah Moalim Dahir confirmed the toll, adding many of the town's residents had fled.

"Most of the civilians deserted the town earlier and the rest started fleeing today after the fighting broke out," he said.

The clashes occurred as Ethiopia continued to withdraw its troops from Somalia nearly three years after it invaded its neighbor to support an embattled transitional administration and rout an Islamist insurgency.

Addis Ababa vowed Saturday not to leave a power vacuum when it completes the withdrawal, leaving ill-equipped and underfunded African Union peacekeepers facing an increasingly powerful Shebab insurgency that continues to gain ground.

Similar fighting pitting the two rival militias took place in Guriel and nearby Dhusamareb a week ago, after the Shebab regained control over the two towns after being attacked by the previously little-known Ahlu Sunna Wal-jamaah.

"Many people are dying in this meaningless fighting so that we are trying to mediate between those religious groups," said Dhusamareb elder Ali Husein.