| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Africa Horn | |
| 12 killed in Lower Shabelle | |
| 2013-12-15 | |
| MARKA, Somalia -- 12 people including militiamen and civilians died in heavy battle that raged between Somali Federal Government troops along clan loyalties in Lower Shabelle region of southern Somalia on Saturday, Garowe Online reports. The deadly infighting broke out when clan argument over agricultural lands in Awdegle village degenerated into shoot out, with witnesses reporting that at least 20 others were wounded. The Somali Federal Government troops sided with the rival clan militias and the ordinary residents fled the area where the fighting took place, eyewitnesses reported.
Mogadishu-based Federal Government forces previously clashed in deadly battles over regional influences as retired warlords including Yusuf Mohamed Siyad Indha'adde who remains deeply unpopular in Lower Shabelle region retaliated with armed militias following the removal of Al Shabaab militants from the region. Indha'adde is known to have used clan militias to subjugate local populations in the 2000s in Lower Shabelle region. The UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea said in a confidential report that, the 3rd Brigade of the Somali National Army (SNA) controls the Afgoye-Marka area of Lower Shabelle region. "The 3rd Brigade is principally drawn from the Hawiye / Habar Gedir / Ayr clan. It consists of approximately 840 men...General Mohamed Roble Jimale 'Gobale' (Hawiye / Habar Gedir / Ayr), a close associate of Indha'adde, officially controls the 3rd Brigade", the UN report disclosed. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |