Dozens of people were feared killed in two days of fierce fighting for control of a strategic Somali port city, according to witness and militia accounts on Saturday, despite efforts to prevent the clashes escalating into broader clan warfare. Scores have died in sporadic fighting in Kismayu since Ahmed Madobe, leader of the Ras Kamboni militia, was chosen by a regional assembly to lead Somalia's southern Jubaland region, where the port is located.
The conflict between Madobe's supporters and a rival claimant to the leadership, Barre Hirale, widely seen as backed by the federal government in Mogadishu, has raised the prospect of a return of the kind of clan fighting that tore Somalia apart more than two decades ago. A shopkeeper, Bile Mohamed, speaking to Reuters by telephone from central Kismayu, said he had counted nine dead bodies on a road, although he said shooting had stopped.
Hussein Ali, from another area of Kismayu, said he saw 12 corpses. "I am afraid scores died in the alleys and inside houses," said Ali, speaking from the area that he said had been a stronghold of Hirale. He also said fighting had ended. Hirale, who also spoke to Reuters by telephone, said he believed at least 50 fighters and civilians had been killed, while five people were injured in his home by shells. Poor communications and the dangers of going outside made it impossible to ascertain the true death toll. Worried that fighting could undermine fragile security gains secured by African peacekeepers, the United Nations called for talks.
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