MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Fierce clashes erupted Monday in Baidoa, the interim capital of Somalia’s Southwest state, between federal government troops and forces loyal to ousted regional leader Abdiaziz Laftagaren, whose spokesman claimed his fighters had entered parts of the city in an early-morning assault.
Wararka Soomaaliya
Gunfire and explosions echoed across Baidoa through the morning, forcing families indoors as videos circulating online showed technical vehicles and armed men moving through the city’s main streets. Additional footage showed smoke and flames rising over neighbourhoods.
An initial toll put the dead at more than 10, with at least 20 others wounded, though the figures could not be independently verified.
Somalia’s army said it had repelled an assault by “Khawarij” – a term the government commonly uses to refer to Al-Shabaab – and said the bodies of attackers were scattered across the city, which it described as fully under its control.
Faahfaahinta
A spokesman for Laftagaren, the toppled Southwest state president, disputed that account, saying the ousted leader’s forces controlled Baidoa and had advanced as far as the city centre.
The two claims could not be immediately reconciled. Telecommunications services in Baidoa were reported cut during the fighting, hampering efforts to confirm either side’s account of who holds the city.
The violence broke out a day after Somalia’s president told a graduation ceremony for 3,000 soldiers trained under a Saudi-funded programme that Somalia no longer needed foreign troops to protect the government, saying the national army was now fully capable of securing the country on its own.
Saamaynta
Monday’s fighting raises pointed questions about that assertion. Critics noted that a force unable to immediately repel an attack by a smaller, largely clan-organised militia faces a far steeper test in Al-Shabaab, Al-Qaeda’s wealthiest, most resilient and most successful affiliate.
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Wararka.so waxay kuu soo tebineysaa wararka ugu dambeeyey ee Soomaaliya iyo caalamka. Si aad ula socoto wararkii ugu dambeeyey, booqo boggayaga.
