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Source: Reuters -
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Fighting killed at least 18 people in two towns in central
Somalia where rebels battled a pro-government militia and each
other, according to witnesses.
The Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca militia, which is aligned with President
Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's weak UN-backed administration, struck at
Hizbul Islam insurgents in Baladwayne on Sunday and residents said
clashes between the two sides resumed on Monday.
Separately, Hizbul Islam fighters battled in Dhobley with members
of another guerrilla group, al Shabaab, which Washington says is al
Qaeda's proxy in the failed Horn of Africa state.
Fighting has claimed the lives of more than 21,000 Somalis and
driven 1.5 million from their homes since the start of 2007.
Western security agencies say the country is a haven for militants
and foreign jihadists with the potential to disrupt neighbouring
countries.
The rebels want to extend their area of control from the south
towards the pro-government, north-eastern region of Puntland.
Ahmed's government controls little more than the sea port, the
airport and his palace in Mogadishu.
Residents in Baladwayne said both sides were exchanging heavy
machine gun fire in the streets on Monday, and a Somali human
rights group said the death toll of 13 was likely to rise.
"Both groups carried away their casualties. We do not know how many
fighters died," Ali Yasin Gedi, vice chairman of the Elman Peace
and Human Rights Organisation, said.
Clashes near Kenya border
Separately, witnesses said at least five people were killed as
Hizbul Islam and al Shabaab rebels fought each other in Dhobley
town, further west near the border with Kenya.
Hizbul Islam and al Shabaab both want to impose a harsh version of
Sharia across the country - but have regularly clashed over
southern and central territories in recent months.
"We attacked the police station and a military compound in Dhobley.
We have killed dozens of al Shabaab fighters," Hizbul Islam member
Mahmed Amin said.
"We will never stop the fighting."
An al Shabaab spokesman in the rebel-held port of Kismayu denied
anyone had died in Dhobley, but declined to elaborate.
In the capital, al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage
accused the United States of plotting suicide bombings targeting
parts of the city including its busy Bakara Market, and said
Washington then planned to blame the violence on the
insurgents.
"We have discovered that US agencies are going to launch suicide
bombings in public places in Mogadishu," Rage told reporters.
"They have tried it in Algeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan ... We
warn of these disasters. They want to target Bakara Market and
mosques, then use that to malign us."
Many residents were sceptical of the claim by the rebels, however,
pointing out that al Shabaab was the only group to have carried out
suicide attacks in the country in the past.
On Sunday, Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca militiamen said they had executed
an al Shabaab commander after he refused to renounce al Shabaab's
hardline ideology.
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