27 killed in central Somalia

17/12/2004

Mogadishu - At least 27 people have been killed and scores wounded in two days of fighting in the central Somali village of Gelinsor, elders contacted by radio said on Friday, as clashes entered a second day.

"The fighting was active on Friday after it was ignited late on Thursday. Some 27 people have been killed since then," said an elder in the battle zone, who requested to remain unnamed for security reasons.

"Fighting was still active on Friday morning," another elder said, adding that several battlewagons mounted with heavy machineguns used in the clashes had been destroyed.

At least 70 people died in clashes in the same village in early December. More than 100 were wounded in that bout of fighting and thousands displaced.

Abdullahi Siyad Dhabarey, one of the mediators in the latest clashes, said it has so far been impossible to resolve the conflict.

The fighting, which involves gunmen from the Sa'ad and Suleyman subclans, both from the larger Hawiye clan, erupted over an unresolved killing in the region in November of five Suleyman subclan elders by Sa'ad subclan gunmen, according to local residents.