SNA radio
Baidoa (AX) — Fighting erupted in Baidoa before dawn on Monday after forces loyal to former South West State President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen launched an assault, residents and local officials said, as they clashed with federal troops and forces supporting the regional administration.
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The violence quickly spread across several neighborhoods of Baidoa, the capital of Bay region. Residents reported hearing sustained gunfire in different parts of the city, while no immediate casualty figures were available.
The federal government had sent additional troops to Baidoa to reinforce forces backing the administration headed by President Adan Mohamed Nur Madobe, local security sources said.
Ugaas Hassan, a former South West State information minister and spokesman for Laftagareen’s forces, said fighters aligned with the former regional leader had targeted federal positions in the city.
He called on residents to stay inside as the fighting continued.
Somalia’s federal government branded the attackers “terrorists” and said they had sustained heavy losses.
“The ‘terrorist twins’ that attacked Baidoa this morning have been dealt a crushing blow,” Defense Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi said in a Facebook post.
Fiqi did not name the two groups in his brief statement. Federal authorities, however, have previously accused Laftagareen’s forces of fighting alongside al-Shabab. Laftagareen and his supporters have repeatedly rejected claims that they cooperate with the al-Qaida-linked militant group.
The rival accounts could not immediately be independently confirmed.
The latest violence is part of a months-long contest over control of South West State.
Federal troops seized Baidoa in March following a political dispute between Laftagareen and the government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. Laftagareen later departed the regional capital, but forces loyal to him have continued to oppose the administration that replaced him.
His fighters previously attacked Baidoa in August and again on Sept. 3, when several hours of combat pitted them against federal and regional forces. The federal government also alleged that Laftagareen-aligned fighters operated with al-Shabab during that violence, a charge his camp denied.
The confrontation reflects wider tensions between Somalia’s federal authorities and regional political leaders over constitutional reforms, elections and the division of power between Mogadishu and the federal member states.
Laftagareen has accused the federal government of using military force to oust his administration and urged an international investigation into the fighting and reported airstrikes near Baidoa. The federal government has defended its operations as necessary to protect the regional administration and confront armed groups threatening the city.
Monday’s clashes renewed fears for civilians in Baidoa, where violence has repeatedly flared since the political dispute escalated into an armed conflict earlier this year.
