MOGADISHU (AFP) –
A pro-government militia fought off Islamist insurgents who tried to capture a central Somali town, with around 30 people killed in hours of intense fighting, residents and the group told AFP Sunday.
Bodies lay in the streets of the central town of Dhusamareb after fighters from the hardline Al-Qaeda-inspired Shebab group launched a surprise attack at dawn on Saturday, they said.
“The town is quiet at the moment and the Shebab fighters have been defeated in violent fighting during the night,” the area’s traditional chief, Abdulahi Gedi, told AFP.
The Ahlu Sunna Wal Jammaa group, which is allied to the Somali government, had fought off the attack and was in control, he said.
“We have sent two teams to fetch bodies on the streets inside and outside of the town. They have told us that the number of dead has reached 31 while 70 people were wounded in the fighting,” he said.
Residents had said on Saturday that at least 11 people had been killed.
Doctor Abdikarim Nurs said that 30 wounded civilians were admitted to his health centre since Saturday.
“The fighting was the most violent ever seen in Dhusamareb,” resident Hussein Moalim Mahad told AFP. “The two sides fought each other for control of the town but eventually the Ahlu Sunna took the upper hand.”
A spokesman for the Ahlu Sunna militia, a moderate Islamic outfit that has taken up arms against more radical groups, also claimed victory.
“With the help of Allah, we have defeated the enemies of our religion who have been trained by foreigners. There are many of their bodies in the streets and we are getting ready to bury them,” Yussuf Al-Qadi told AFP.
The Shebab could not be reached for comment.
The two groups also fought each other for control of Dhusamareb, near the border with Ethiopia, at the beginning of 2009.
The Shebab control large swathes of southern and central Somalia and has wrested control of much of the capital Mogadishu, where it has relentlessly attacked government and African Union forces.
The Ahlu Sunna was founded in 1991 to promote moderate Sufi Islam in Somalia. It renounced a posture of non-violence in early 2009 to take on the radical Shebab and their allies from the Hizb al-Islam movement.
The Ahlu Sunna does not fully recognise Somali President Sherif Sheikh Ahmed’s transitional government but it too wants to rid Somalia of the Shebab and its Al-Qaeda inspired ideology.
