Central Somalia fighting leaves 64 dead

MOGADISHU (AFP) – Fierce fighting in central Somalia between pro-government militiamen and hardline Islamist insurgents has left at least 64 people dead, elders and witnesses said on Saturday."We sent teams to collect the dead bodies in the battle zones and they found 28 more combatants who were killed in Friday's clashes," Moalim Mohamoud Adan, an elder in the town of Guriel, told AFP.Adan and other local elders had already reported that 36 fighters were confirmed dead late Friday, bringing the overall death toll to at least 64 and dozens of wounded.
The fighting broke out Friday in Wahbo village, near the Ethiopian border, when the Shebab and allied fighters from the Hezb al-Islamiya group tried to recapture the area from pro-government group Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa.Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa is originally a religious organisation rooted in Somalia's Sufi brand of Islam but it took up arms in parts of Galgudud neighbouring the Ethiopian border earlier this year to challenge the Shebab.Friday's Shebab-led offensive came a day after Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa's top religious leader officially declared his support for the embattled administration of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.Adan said nearly all the dead were fighters and witnesses in the Wahbo area, which lies around 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of the capital Mogadishu. He added it was believed very few civilians had been killed.
Muktar Fidow, a spokesman and senior commander for the Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa group, confirmed that the fighting had been very deadly."More than 20 dead bodies were found early this morning, most of them were combatants and they were buried outside Guriel," he told AFP by telephone.The fighting peaked on Friday and the area was reportedly calm on Saturday.
Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, a spokesman for the Shebab, a militant Islamist armed grohttp://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090606/wl_africa_afp/somaliaunrest_20090606150423up suspected of links to Al Qaeda, claimed the insurgents had the upper hand...more..