Over 40 killed in renewed fighting in Bardhere

At least 40 people were killed and another 50 wounded in renewed fighting in Bardhere, about 400 km west of Mogadishu, local sources told IRIN on Tuesday. According to Abdi Gesey, a local resident, the clashes broke out on Monday morning, when forces of the opposition Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC) attacked Bardhere to dislodge those of the Juba Valley Alliance (JVA). The JVA, which controls the southern port city of Kismayo, is a pro-Transitional National Government (TNG) grouping of Marehan, Ogadeni and Habar Gedir clans, whereas the SRRC brings together southern factions opposed to the TNG. "The SRRC forces attacked the town around the morning-prayer time," Gesey told IRIN. However, they were repulsed by the JVA forces "an hour or so later". He said the JVA was holding 36 wounded SRRC prisoners. Other sources told IRIN the SRRC forces also lost two trucks - one carrying a ZU-23 anti-aircraft gun and another carrying provisions for the SRRC forces. The JVA forces are now reported to be in the village of War-Illanle, some 40 km east of Bardhere on the road to Baidoa, according to Gesey. "They are there and are waiting for reinforcements," he said. Attempts by IRIN to reach Baidoa, the headquarters of the SRRC, for comment were unsuccessful, due to a telecommunications blackout. Telecommunications in the town of Baidoa, 240 km northwest of Mogadishu, had been cut off from the rest of Somalia since Monday afternoon, fuelling speculation over military movements in the region, observers said. Somali sources told IRIN that the Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA), which controls the town, had shut down all telephones and VHF radios, but was allowing aid agencies to use their own frequencies. Such a move by the RRA was usually a prelude to troop movement, humanitarian sources said. Somali political observers say the RRA is likely to be mobilising support for the SRRC forces in Gedo Region, which are led by General Muhammad Sa’id Hirsi Morgan. Meanwhile, UN sources told IRIN that the international staff of all UN and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) had been temporarily relocated from Baidoa to Nairobi on Monday as a precautionary measure. A UN spokeswoman, Sonya Green, said the RRA, which controls the Bay and Bakol regions of south-central Somalia, had advised that "international staff be relocated for their safety and security" following reports that fighting between the SRRC and the JVA in neighboring Gedo Region had intensified and might spread. Somali sources told IRIN that the fighting was taking place some 50 km from Baidoa town. A total of 19 UN and international NGO staff have been relocated. "We hope to return to Baidoa as soon as possible," Green added.