Islamists, gov't troops in fierce Somalia clash
Source: Reuters
By Hassan Yare MOGADISHU, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Somali government troops clashed with rival pro-Islamist fighters in a brief but fierce battle early on Tuesday in the south of the chaotic Horn of Africa country, a resident and the Islamists said. A senior Islamist official said Ethiopian troops supporting the fragile administration were also involved in the shootout, but there was no immediate confirmation of that and the government denied any knowledge of the clash. "I saw two dead soldiers. I don't know which side they belonged to," said Yusuf Nur Ibrahim, a resident of the remote Idaale village, some 70 km (43 miles) southwest of the government's sole outpost in the town of Baidoa. "The fighting was brief but intense," he said by telephone. "The pro-Islamist troops later retreated to the bush." The Islamists seized the capital Mogadishu in June then much of southern Somalia, leaving the government marooned in Baidoa where residents say it is being protected by Ethiopian troops. The government said it had no information on fresh fighting. "There is nothing like that," Information Minister Ali Ahmed Jama "Jangali" told Reuters. "We are not aware of such news." On Sunday, an Islamist source said fighters loyal to the religious movement had attacked an Ethiopian convoy in south Somalia. The Islamists have declared holy war on Ethiopian troops they say have invaded their country. Addis Ababa -- which says it has only sent military trainers to Baidoa at the request of the Western-backed government -- denied there was any ambush. It said a truck carrying food to its instructors had hit a landmine, killing one person. A top Islamist security official, Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, told Reuters local militia fighters loyal to the Islamists had killed two Ethiopians in Tuesday's battle in Idaale. "Our witnesses saw two dead Ethiopian soldiers," Robow said. "One local was wounded while another one is missing." There was no immediate confirmation of that, but analysts fear an all-out war between Somalia's rivals could trigger a wider conflict in the fractious Horn of Africa. A United Nations report this month said several nations were fuelling the country's march to war by providing arms and military supplies to the opposing sides. (Additional reporting by Sahal Abdulle and Guled Mohamed)
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