Nine killed in clashes over Somalia land

MOGADISHU (AFP) - Clashes have broken out on Somalia's eastern coast over a land dispute, leaving at least nine people dead and seven injured, local officials said on Saturday.

The clashes erupted on Friday in Harardhere, some 300 kilometers (188 miles) north of Mogadishu, between clan factions, the officials said.

"The worst fighting occurred late Friday on the outskirts of the town," Ahmed Abdulahi, a local elder, told AFP by phone.

"We have collected the dead bodies of nine people, most of them combatants who were killed during the clashes."

Another elder in Mogadishu, Moalim Dahir Adan, said the clan factions "have been arguing about land for the past weeks and that is the reason they fought."

He said elders had been sent in to mediate.

Somalia has been mired in unrest since 1991 and is currently in the grip of a fierce insurgency, with hardline Islamist militias waging a campaign to topple the African Union-backed government.