At least 21 dead amid fierce fighting in Somalia

Militants re-take town seized by government forces

MOGADISHU: Twenty-one people died Thursday as the battle for southern and central Somalia intensified when Ethiopian-backed pro-government forces thrust into areas held by Al-Shebaab fighters. Forces from the transitional federal government (TFG) supported by militias from the Sufi group Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa attacked the town of Bulobarde in central Somalia, sparking fierce clashes, witnesses and commanders said.

Meanwhile, Al-Shebaab fighters retaliated by attacking their rear in the key town of Beledweyn, near the Ethiopian border, they said.

Bulobarde is located some 200 kilometers north of the capital Mogadishu and is the main town on the road linking the capital Mogadishu to Beledweyn.

According to locals and military commanders, at least 21 people, mainly combatants, were killed during the first hours of fighting in Bulobarde.

Residents said the fighting was the heaviest the town had seen in a long time and that both sides used heavy machine-guns and anti-aircraft weapons.

“The fighting has stopped for now but the warring sides are still facing off in one neighborhood … I personally saw the bodies of 18 fighters and the death toll could be much higher,” local resident Abdurahman Ali said.

Abdikarim Muktar, a grocer, said the heaviest fighting occurred near a bridge over a river dividing the town.

“Most of the people died near the bridge where the fighting was fierce. The government forces were pushed back from that area,” he said.

But as Al-Shebaab forces attempted to hold off the pro-government offensive in Bulobarde, they also moved to recapture Beledweyn, witnesses said.

“Al-Shebaab forces launched an attack from a neighboring region and entered the town,” said Abdullahi Moalim Hassan, an elder in Beledweyn.

“There was intense exchange and they took control of the western part of the town. Eight people have been injured, most of them civilians.”

An alliance of clan militias, government forces and Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa fighters earlier this week recaptured two strategic southwestern towns from Al-Shebaab without any fighting. Residents say the Islamist insurgents on Wednesday wrested back control of the town of Bulohawo, which sits just across the border from the Kenyan town of Mandera.

Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa and allied groups have recently inflicted serious losses on Al-Shebaab, who had controlled much of central and southern Somalia in recent months.

Earlier this week, the premier of Somalia’s interim administration reshuffled the Cabinet to offer a tougher response to a bruising insurgency.

Al-Shebaab and the more political Hezb al-Islam on May 7 launched a broad military offensive in Mogadishu and other regions, leaving President Sharif Sheikh Ahmad’s power hanging by thread.

Tuesday’s reshuffle saw a new defense minister brought in and a powerful deputy appointed to bolster the government’s war effort.

According to residents and fighters, some of the pro-government groups involved in the latest counter-offensive to weaken Al-Shebaab have received training in Ethiopia. Ethiopian government spokesman Bereket Simon made no secret of the fact that his regime was propping the new war effort against Al-Shebaab, an Al-Qaeda-inspired organization listed as a terrorist group by Washington.

Source: The Daily Star.
Link: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=105522.