The death toll from the four days of fighting between two sub-clans in southern Somalia's Lower Shabelle region has reached 28, the area's clan elders said on Sunday.

The Garre and Gido sub-clans have been fighting in Lower Shabelle's Qoryoley district town and its surroundings.

"After intensive fighting overnight and Sunday morning, the fighting died down without any agreed ceasefire," Gido elder Mohamed Mayow Nur told AFP by radio communication from Bulo village in Lower Shabelle.

Elders and area residents said Saturday that 23 people had died in the battles, during which opposing militia used heavy weapons.

Five more were killed in clashes overnight and on Sunday morning. The number of wounded remained high, the elders said, with some medical and militia sources putting the figure to at least 45.

Mediators were working around the clock in Qoryoley to find a peaceful solution to the dispute, triggered by allegations that the Garre have been looting cattle from the Gido in the past two months.

The latest fighting in Qoryoley has been the heaviest since last January's battle there between the Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA) and the Islamic court.

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