Eight killed in new battles between Somaliland and Puntland

MOGADISHU (AFP) — At least eight people were killed and several wounded Monday in fighting between forces from the breakaway Somali states of Somaliland and Puntland over a disputed border town, commanders said.

The latest violence, sparked by a long-running territorial dispute, broke out early Monday in Sool, a region split between sub-clans backing the feuding statelets.

"I can confirm... that heavy fighting broke out... early morning causing casualties. The Somaliland forces waged the attack against our military positions in the northern outskirts of Las Anod," Burhan Mohamed, a Puntland commander, told AFP by phone.

A Somaliland commander, Colonel Mohamed Barakat Dahir, said the Puntland forces has retreated from the township after rival sides pounded each other with heavy artillery.

"So far, eight people have been killed and most of the dead were fighters. There are also a number of people injured," Dahir told AFP by phone from the township.

Several inhabitants meanwhile told AFP the fighting had begun outside Las Anod but had spilled into the town, located near the Ethiopian border and some 750 kilometres (460 miles) north of Mogadishu.

One Las Anod resident said the fighters were killed outside the township itself.

Speaking from Hargeisa, which has been designated the capital of the self-declared republic of Somaliland, a Somaliland military commander also confirmed that new clashes had taken place.
"I was told that at least five people were killed this morning when fighting erupted between our forces and those from Puntland in Las Anod. They started the fire in the northern frontline area and we repelled them," he said, requesting anonymity.

The border problem has been compounded by calls in July by hardline chiefs in the neighbouring Sanaag region -- which has a history of a Sultanate -- for autonomy, further threatening to split the Horn of Africa nation.

The chiefs had renamed the region Makhir and Badhan as its capital, raising tension with Puntland authorities.

Officials said Ethiopia -- which relies on the Somaliland port of Berbera for its government imports -- has taken a lead in mediating a lasting truce.

Tensions between the two northern Somali regions have been running high for months, and on October 1 at least 10 people were killed in a battle for control over Las Anod.

Somaliland broke away from greater Somalia in 1991, just months after the overthrow of former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre plunged the country into a still ongoing civil war.

The region has since enjoyed relative prosperity but failed to secure recognition as an independent state.

Neighbouring Puntland declared itself autonomous from the rest of Somalia in August 1998 under the leadership of Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the current president of the Somali interim government.

Somalia has had no functional national administration since former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled in 1991, touching off a deadly power struggle that has defied numerous internationally backed peace initiatives.