Fighting erupted in central Baidoa on Monday as Somalia’s federal troops battled armed opposition groups, residents and military officials said.
The clashes began in the morning in Baidoa, the administrative capital of South West state and one of Somalia’s largest cities. The city, home to more than a million people, also hosts international peacekeepers and aid agencies.
According to shopkeeper Farah Nur, militias loyal to former South West state president Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen entered the city from two directions and confronted two federal battalions. “Fighting has intensified now,” Nur told Reuters.
A federal army officer, Captain Osman Abdullahi, said troops were pushing back the attackers. “The armed militias attacked Baidoa this morning, we are pushing them back….there are casualties as stray bullets enter houses,” he said.
Nur said federal forces were using heavy weapons. He reported seeing at least two civilians killed in their homes by stray bullets, with several others wounded and taken to hospital.
In a Facebook post, a spokesperson for Laftagareen claimed opposition forces had taken control of Baidoa and called on federal troops to surrender. That claim could not be independently verified.
Federal troops have controlled Baidoa since March, when they seized the city. That takeover prompted Laftagareen to resign.
The renewed violence threatens to worsen an already severe humanitarian situation. Baidoa shelters hundreds of thousands of displaced people. A July survey by Medecins Sans Frontieres found that one in four children at displacement sites in the area are severely malnourished.
