By Hussein Ali Noor

HARGEISA, Somalia, Sept 17 (Reuters) - At least three fighters have been killed in a battle between militias loyal to the rival administrations of Somaliland and Puntland, officials in Somaliland said on Monday.

Somaliland broke away from the rest of Somalia in 1991, and relations with the authorities in Mogadishu and the neighbouring semi-autonomous Puntland region have often been stormy.

"Forces loyal to the regional administration of Puntland attacked community forces loyal to Somaliland ... south of Las Anod yesterday afternoon," Somaliland's justice minister, Ahmed Hassan Asowe, told a news conference in Hargeisa on Monday.

There was no immediate response from Puntland officials, and residents said the border area was quiet on Monday.

Abdillahi Ali Ebrahim, Somaliland's defence minister, said three combatants had died. He did not give details, but said fighters from Puntland backed by trucks mounted with heavy guns had been "harassing" local militias for the last four days.

Local elders told Reuters the gun battle was apparently triggered by the defection to Somaliland of a group of militia fighters previously loyal to the Puntland administration.

Somaliland has been relatively more peaceful than the rest of Somalia in recent years. It wants sovereignty on the grounds it was briefly separate after independence in 1960, then joined the former Italian colony of Somalia to form the modern state.

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