Somaliland clashes leave 123 dead

Thu Mar 3, 2011

At least 123 people have been killed after troops from the self-declared republic of Somaliland attacked and opened fire on local clan militia in the Buhodle district.

The conflict erupted late Wednesday as Somaliland forces based in the village of Kalshale in the Buhodle district launched an attack against local clan militia called SSC (Sool, Sanaag, Cayn), a Press TV correspondent reported on Thursday.

Fierce skirmishes broke out in the aftermath and heavy weapons -- including artillery -- were used in the fighting. Some 149 people were also injured in the clashes.

Somaliland, situated in northwestern Somalia, unilaterally declared independence from rest of the Horn of Africa country in 1991.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

The Somali government has struggled for years to restore security but efforts have not yet yielded results in the nation.

Nearly a million people have died following years of fighting between rival warlords and also due to the country's inability to deal with famine and disease.

There are more than 1.4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Somalia. More than 300,000 IDPs have been sheltered in Mogadishu alone.

Most of the displaced live in squalid conditions at makeshift sites in southern and central Somalia, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/168052.html.