Renewed clan fighting in Somalia killed at least 30 people on Thursday, reports said as the conflict-ridden country inaugurated its new cabinet just a day before.

The incident occurred in central Somalia's Gelinsor town in the Galgudud region, near the Ethiopian border. Reports said at least 30 people were killed during two days of fighting, and over 70 were injured.

The militiamen used rifles, anti-tank weapons and heavy machine-guns in the fighting, sending thousands of Gelinsor residents fleeing.

However, the reason of the fighting is still unclear, and there is no confirmation whether the fighting has something to do with the inauguration of the country's new cabinet Wednesday in Kenyan capital Nairobi.

The ceremony Wednesday saw Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi announcing most of his 31-member cabinet, saying he had named a government of reconciliation which he urged to work as a team.

"Our people must unite and reconcile for the benefit of peace in Somalia," he said, calling the new cabinet "the group that will resurrect Somalia from the ashes."

Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991 when the regime of Muhammad Siad Barre was toppled, following which the country plunged into anarchy and factional violence.

Since the breakdown of the Somali central government, conflict and famine have killed hundreds of thousands of people in the country.

Somali National Reconciliation Conference began in October 2002 in Kenya, and Somali Transitional President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was inaugurated on Oct. 14 in Nairobi, while the prime minister was appointed on Nov. 3.

However, analysts here say the biggest task facing the government is to disarm thousands of gunmen, some loyal to faction leaders opposed to the peace process, others free-lance bandits, and to return security to the devastated nation.