Inter-ethnic clashes claim 6 lives in Somalia

At least 6 people were killed and nine others injured when rival clans clashed in Central Somalia, local elders said on Saturday.

An online media outlet, Allafrica, revealed that militiamen belonging to the Air and Duduble sub-clans started fighting early Saturday morning in Labi-Aano village, 45 km east of Dhuusamareeb. The fight is over a dispute and clan vendetta.

“So far we know that six people died in the hostilities between the clans and more than nine others were injured,” Mohamed Ali Ilmi, the governor of the Galgudud region told VOA’s Somali Service by phone. “Still the area is too tense. There might be further clashes as war preparations are underway in nearby villages,” he said.

Hassan Ali Omar, an elder in the region, said the fighting was sparked by long-standing hostilities over land ownership and pasture.

“This fighting has repeated several times and it is over long-standing vendetta between the two sub-clans. We are sorry that it has resulted in deaths,” Omar said.

Somalia has been mired in conflict since 1991, when clan-based warlords overthrew Siad Barre and then turned on each other.

Al Shabaab which once ruled much of Somalia, has been fighting for years to impose its strict interpretation of Islam on Somalia.

African Union and Somali troops have driven it from urban strongholds and ports but they have often struggled to defend smaller, more remote areas from attacks.