Fighting in Somali border town

At least 30 people have been killed after fighting broke out in Bulo Hawa, Gedo, southwestern Somalia. According to local and humanitarian sources, fighting began at 7:00 a.m. local time and continued until 15:00 p.m. Kenyan newspapers said two Kenyan citizens were killed in the battle in the Somali border town, including a Kenyan administration police officer. The daily ‘East African Standard’ said the two were killed by a “stray bomb”, which struck the Kenya Commercial Bank centre in the Kenyan border town of Mandera. Local sources told IRIN that fighting flared up between sub-clans of the Marehan, which dominates the Gedo Region. Humanitarian sources said many people had fled as a result of the conflict, with some 4,000 people mainly from the Eli Dhere sub-clan, arriving in Mandera, Kenya. Another group, mainly from the Howarsame sub-clan, fled across the Ethiopian border, the source said. Clan elders from both sides are negotiating with the clans, and humanitarian sources told IRIN Bulo Hawa that had been “calm but tense” since Friday.