MOGADISHU: Fierce clan fighting over land issues broke out in central Somalia, killing at least 15 people, many of them civilians, officials and elders said.
The clashes erupted late Monday after heavily armed militiamen from one of the two clans attacked a remote area outside Galkayo, a town straddling the border between the northern breakaway state of Puntland and central Somalia.
"Fifteen people from one clan have been killed and so far 11 of their dead bodies have been brought to south Galkayo. This was a horrible incident," Mohamed Idle, an elder in Galkayo told AFP by phone.
"These people were getting on with their own business when the attack took place. Some of them resisted but the militiamen who attacked them killed many people," another elder, Osman Moalim Abdukadir, said.
He said the attackers were riding pickup trucks mounted with machine guns.
The clashes pitted members of the Saad subclan, which is dominant in the self-proclaimed central region of Galmudug, against Majerteen militia from Puntland.
The two rival clans live side by side in Galkayo and neighboring border regions but have a long history of feuds over access to land and water.
Officials from Galmudug accused Puntland of preparing the attack using their recently trained anti-piracy forces.
"Puntland bears responsibility for the blood spilled. The attack was carried out by Majerteen militia who were trained to combat piracy and who were using the heavy weapons given to them during the training," Galmudug official Ahmed Mohamud Hassan told AFP.
Shire Abdi Warsame, a Puntland official contacted by AFP, confirmed the clashes but denied the involvement of Puntland’s arned forces.
"We have heard that villagers fought over land and water but we were not involved. Instead we sent elders to mediate between the villagers," Warsame said, adding he had heard there were casualties but did not know how many.
