Seven fighters killed in northern Somalia clashes

(AFP) –MOGADISHU — Fresh clashes erupted Friday in the northern breakaway Somalia region of Puntland with Al-Qaida linked militants, leaving at least seven combatants dead and nine wounded, officials and witnesses said.Fighting erupted when militants led by local warlord Mohamed Said Atom tried to recapture a military base they had lost to the Puntland forces in clashes on Wednesday near the Galgala mountains."The terrorists launched a hit and run attack on one of our bases near Galgala. They were defeated and four of their militants killed," said Colonel Omar Abdulahi, a Puntland security official.
"Unfortunately we lost two soldiers and three others were injured."However, Saleban Mohamed an elder in Galgala village put the number of dead at seven as three Puntland soldiers were killed, and the number of wounded at nine."I saw the dead bodies of three Puntland soldiers ... being carried to Bossaso on a truck," he told AFP by phone.Abdulahi Jama, another elder, said the contested area is still controlled by Puntland forces and there were several dead bodies still strewn in the area."Puntland forces are still in control and several dead bodies from the Atom militants are lying in the area, nearly ten fighters from the two sides have died today," he said.Puntland security forces said Wednesday they had taken control of the last base used by the militia, whose leader is on a UN Security Council watchlist.
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Puntland forces claim victory against Shabaab in the 'Tora Bora of East Africa'