Fighting around southern towns

Heavy fighting erupted on Thursday morning in the town of Jilib, 350 km south of Mogadishu, between forces of the Juba Valley Alliance (JVA) and militia of the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC). The JVA, which controls the port city of Kismayo, is a grouping of Marehan, Ogadeni and Habar Gedir clans which support the Transitional National government (TNG), while the SRRC brings together southern faction leaders opposed to the TNG.

The fighting started at 0430 local time when SRRC forces led by General Muhammad Sa’id Hirsi Morgan attacked the town to dislodge the JVA forces in control of it, local sources told IRIN. “They attacked right after morning prayers,” they said. Jilib fell soon afterwards, and the JVA fighters withdrew to Daay Tubaako village 20 km to the north, sources in Barawe, 150 km north of Jilib, told IRIN. By late afternoon, however, the JVA fighters counterattacked and reclaimed the town, sources said.

Jilib HF radio operators, who went off the air on Thursday, were back by Friday morning, Abdishakur, a Barawe radio operator, told IRIN. “The town is in the hands of the JVA,” he said on Friday. Although no casualty figures are available, sources in Barawe who spoke to people fleeing the fighting, told IRIN many civilians and combatants had been killed. According to latest reports reaching Barawe, the fighting is now concentrated near the town of Bu’aale (80 km northwest of Jilib), which Morgan’s forces captured from TNG loyalists last week.