Ousted regional leader’s loyalists and army clash in Somali city

MOGADISHU: Fighters loyal to an ousted state leader in southern Somalia clashed with troops on Saturday in the city of Baidoa, resulting in several casualties, witnesses and security sources said. The fighting, in the main city of Somalia’s South West State, followed the army’s ouster in March of the state’s president, Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen. “Armed elements entered the city with the intention of creating instability and disorder” but were repelled by security forces, Baidoa’s police chief, Sadiq Dudishe, told a news conference. He said calm had been restored.

Raccontata daarabnews.com