Factional fighting claimed the lives of at least 15 people, including three civilians, in the border region of Gedo last week, according to DPA news agency.
It cited eyewitness reports of an attack on the town of Luuq
by more than 100 armed militiamen supporting the Somali National Front (SNF) against a rival faction headed by Sheikh Mohamed Ali Buraleh.
Media sources have reported that Buraleh's faction has the backing of Ethiopia, which borders the Gedo region. The Somali faction of Hussein Aideed has claimed that Ethiopia is continually arming "unpatriotic" Somali groups and occupying Somali towns and villages. AFP on Monday quoted Aideed's adviser, Issa Mohamed Siad, as saying that his faction
needed weapons imported at Merka "to counter Ethiopian aggression".
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