Mogadishu, March 14: At least 23 people have been killed and several others injured in clashes between Somali fighters and government troops over a strategic town north of the capital, Mogadishu.
The Somali fighters have been fighting over the control of Beledweyne, the capital of Hiran region and a strategic central town that lies some 300 km north of the capital city, a Media correspondent reported.
Witnesses say fierce fighting resumed late on Sunday as government forces engaged al-Shabab fighters in the outskirts of the town.
“More than 23 soldiers, mostly al-shabab, were killed around the strategic town of Beledweyne,” an eyewitness told Media.
Officials claimed that they have repelled al-Shabab attacks on the district, killing dozens of fighters.
Meanwhile, Somali’s beleaguered government has called on the United States to provide the Horn of Africa country with arms and more military aid.
“We would like to see more resources, more equipment to the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces,” Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed said Sunday. “We have enough forces.”
The government, led by Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, has been fighting Somali fighters and others groups vying for power for the past several years.
Somalia has been without a functioning central administration since 1991, when junta ruler Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted.
——–Agencies