Friday, August 08, 2008
"Newly-trained police forces entered the town of Afgoye on their way to the capital. They came under fire from forces loyal to dismissed police officers from the region and responded," police officer Farah Mohamed told AFP.
"Several people died in the clashes but the situation is now calm, the police forces are in complete control of the town," he added.
Witnesses in Afgoye, which lies about 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of Mogadishu, said the shoot-out lasted around 40 minutes.
Husein Kulow Abdulahi, a local resident, told AFP he saw the bodies of two men involved in the exchange of fire and those of three civilians who were caught in the crossfire.
"I saw two dead policemen being taken by colleagues near the district's police headquarters. Three civilians, including a woman, were also killed," Moalim Amin, another resident, said.
The incident came three days after Somalia's police commissioner discharged two top police officials in the region. The pair rejected their dismissal as illegal.
Source: Reuters, Aug 08, 2008