Nine Killed in Faction Fighting in Somali Town of Baidoa

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, August 02, 2002

Nine Killed in Faction Fighting in Somali Town of Baidoa

A total of nine people were killed Thursday in Baidoa town, 245 km northwest of Mogadishu, in a faction fighting between the forces of Colonel Hassan Mohamed Nur Shargudud and his two deputies.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

A total of nine people were killed Thursday in Baidoa town, 245 km northwest of Mogadishu, in a faction fighting between the forces of Colonel Hassan Mohamed Nur Shargudud and his two deputies.

According to eyewitnesses, eight of these men are the combat militiamen from the two sides, the other is a civilian man who waskilled in the center of the town. Meanwhile, 18 militiamen were wounded in the fighting.

The five-hour-long fighting has made the town of Baidoa to fallfor Colonel Shargudud, president of the southwestern regional government of Somalia.

Eyewitnesses said the fighting resumed in Baidoa town before dawn Thursday between the forces of Colonel Shargudud and those ofhis deputies in the Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA) faction, Sheikh Adan Madobeh and Mohamed Ibrahim Habsadeh.

However, the fighting stopped abruptly at about 10 a.m. (0700 GMT), the exact time when the two sides would normally start theirfighting everyday as it happened in the past three consecutive days.

It all started at the Afar Irdodkah and National Bar areas in the center of the town where the warring sides have temporarily halted their armed confrontation Wednesday evening.

It is not officially known what had stopped the fighting, but what is now known is that Sheikh Adan Madobeh and Mohamed Ibrahim Habsadeh have withdrawn their forces out of Baidoa town at about 11 a.m. (0800 GMT).

There has not been any fighting or any sort of exchange of gunfire when these forces have pulled out of the town without anyone chasing them.

The reason for the withdrawal is not known, but independent sources confirmed that hundreds of heavily armed militiamen together with their dozen battle wagons have fled Baidoa towards Qansahdhere town.

However, nobody knows exactly where they are heading to, but some sources said they ran out of ammunition and that's why they were forced to leave the town.

"They stopped shooting at us and we stopped," said one of the militiamen of Colonel Shargudud whom this reporter spoke with on the phone.

Since the fighting for control of Baidoa town broke out now a month ago, more than 110 people have been killed and nearly 200 others, mainly civilians, wounded.

Likewise, the main businesses have been closed down and almost 80 percent of population in Baidoa town taken refugee to other towns and villages in fear of the fighting which has devastated the town.

Somalia has been without a central government since the 1991 ouster of Mohammed Siad Barre.

The interim government of Somalia was set up after a conferenceof clan elders in 2000, but so far has failed to convince the warlords to accept its rule, and it controls only parts of the capital Mogadishu and pockets of the rest of the country.

Questions?Comments? Click here

At Least 17 Killed in Faction Fighting in Somalia

Fighting Breaks out again in Somalia

UN Recommends Setting up Panel to Strengthen Sanctions Against Somalia

News Analysis: Why China Ranks Sixth in World Trade ( 24 Messages)

Secret of China's Manned 'Spaceport' Revealed ( 156 Messages)

Institutional Guarantee for the Selection and Appointment of Capable People ( 33 Messages)

Renminbi Appeals Increasingly to Domestic Users: Statistics ( 38 Messages)

US Right Wing Forces Tend to Fan Up 'China Threat Theory' Again ( 24 Messages)

China Protests over Falun Gong Resolution by US Congress ( 84 Messages)