Somalia: Fighting breaks out on outskirts of Baidoa

Fighting broke out in Baidoa early Thursday between Somali government forces and militia loyal to former South West State predisent Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen.

Heavy gunfire rung out, with residents fleeing some neighbourhoods as a result. One doctor at the Bay Regional Hospital told journalists that his hospital received 24 people who were injured in the fighting, as well as one civilian who died.

According to Somalia’s defense ministry, its forces were responding to an attack on their positions by militias loyal to Laftagareen as well as Al-Shabab fighters.

It’s the latest episode in a political and security dispute between Somalia’s federal government and Laftagareen’s allies over control of South West State.

Late March, federal forces took control of Baidoa, after which Laftagareen stepped down. Baidoa is some 245 kilometres northwest of the capital Mogadishu; it hosts many people driven from their homes by conflict and drought.