Hiiraan Online
By Shafi’i Mohyaddin
Friday, April 11, 2014
Mogadishu (HOL) - Reports reaching from central Somalia indicate that at least 11 people have been killed in a fierce fighting between Al Shabab militants on one side and Somali government forces and AU troops on the other side.
The fighting took place in the outskirts of Elbur, the 2nd largest city in the central Galgadud region from where the Al-Qaeda-linked militants were ousted nearly a month ago.
Residents said that the fighting took place late on Thursday and all those killed were from the warring sides, as no civilian casualties were reported yet.
The fighting began after an Ethiopian convoy came under attack.
This was the heaviest fighting in the region since the Allied Somali and AU forces captured Elbur last month.
“We attacked the enemy soldiers near Elbur—they suffered from heavy losses and in return they killed civilians” a spokesman for the notorious militants Abdul Aziz Abu Mus’ab claimed.
Somali government and AMISOM were not yet available for comment on Thursday’s fighting in the outskirts of Elbur.
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