A week of factional clashes in southern Somalia's Lower Shabelle
region has left some 59 people dead, many of them non-combattant
civilians, witnesses told AFP on Wednesday.
Fighting
between the Garre and Gido subclans continued Wednesday, Gido
elder Mohamed Mayow Nur told AFP, adding that 18 people had
been killed in clashes there since Tuesday morning, bringing
the total number of dead to 59.
A 90-year-old
man died when his home was torched by militiamen from one
of the warring groups, said Nur, who was contacted by field
radio.
"Ali
Ahmed Isaq died in his house in Farkerow village because he
was unable to escape from the flames," said Nur.
He claimed
that Garre militiamen had also shot and killed five unarmed
women and three children.
Elders
from communities not involved in the fighting confirmed the
killing of Isaq and several other civilian members of the
Gido subclan in Farkerow.
Two Gido
villages, Melayley and Dharkenley, were burned to the ground
in a revenge attack after Garre elders accused Gido fighters
of torching homes in Herlabad village.
The violence,
which flared up on Thursday, was sparked by allegations that
members of the Garre subclan had been stealing cattle from
their Gido neighbours during the past two months.
Somalia
has been without a central government since the overthrow
of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, and is wracked by
conflict between rival clans and warlords.
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