Fighting between elements of #Somalia's pro-government forces killed at least seven people and injured 50 in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, a doctor at a hospital that treated the casualties tells Reuters.https://t.co/ZiDd7clFia
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) December 21, 2021
Fighting between elements of Somali pro-government forces killed at least seven people and injured 50 in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland
...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion...
on Tuesday, a doctor at a hospital that treated the casualties told Rooters.
It was the first reported shootout
between forces loyal to Puntland's president and the US-trained Puntland Security Forces (PSF), which both support Somali central government forces against al Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab
...... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia attempting to metastasize into Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and similar places, all of which have enough problems without them...bad boys.
"At least seven people including (forces) from both sides and civilians died in the fighting," said Mohammed Ahmed, a doctor at the main hospital in the regional capital Bosaso. Both combatants and civilians were among the injured, Ahmed said.
A Puntland forces commander who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media confirmed the deaths, saying four were from his side, two were PSF fighters and the other a civilian.
Clashes between the two groups broke out early on Tuesday with each accusing the other of initiating the violence.
Fighting had stopped by late on Tuesday with the streets of Bosaso empty and businesses shuttered.
Tensions between the two have run high since last month when Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni fired PSF commander Mohamoud Osman Diyano.
| ...alternately spelt Mohamud Osman Diano, but not in our archives under either ... |
The PSF chief refused to vacate his post and ordered his forces from some frontline positions against al-Shabaab.
"We are defending ourselves. We have fought for our country and we do not want to use our weapons against the misled forces," Diyano said of the festivities with the Puntland militia.
Fighting earlier this year between government troops and a formerly allied militia in the neighboring state of Galmudug
...a semiautonomous region in central Somalia, bordering Puntland on the north. Galmudug is not trying to obtain international recognition as a separate nation, but rather considers itself autonomous within the larger Somali federalism, for what that's worth...
appeared to undermine the campaign against al-Shabaab, analysts have said. Last week, al-Shabaab captured towns there for the first time in a decade.