15 die in Somali border dispute

2004-10-29 22:28

Mogadishu - At least 15 people were killed and scores wounded Friday after fighting erupted over a border dispute between Somaliland and Puntland, two regions in northern Somalia, officials and residents said.

It was the first time that the dispute over the territory of Sool degenerated into major hostilities.

The fighting pitted government troops from Somaliland, which considers itself an independent state, against fighters loyal to the regional government in neighbouring Puntland.

"Some 15 people were killed and scores more wounded by the fighting which is continuing," said Mohamed Said, a resident of Lasanod, the main town in the disputed region.

He said the fighting was taking place in the nearby village of Adhi-adeeye.

"I can confirm the battle but am unable to give any further details," Ismail Omar Aden, defence minister of the self-declared republic of Somaliland, in northwest Somalia, told journalists in Somaliland's capital, Hargeisa.

There were unconfirmed reports that up to 35 people were killed in the fighting.

Somaliland, which unilaterally seceded from the rest of Somalia in May 1991, claims Sool as part of its territory, while semi-autonomous Puntland to the east insists the area's residents are Harti, the dominant clan in Puntland.

Somaliland has refused to have anything to do with the rest of Somalia, or to recognise the country's newly elected president, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, who used to be the president of Puntland.

- AFP