Renewed clashes between rival clans fighting for control of a trading town in southern Somalia have killed 20 people and injured at least 30, residents said on Saturday. Clashes between the Garre and Merrehan clans erupted late on Friday, centering on Ceel Waaq town in Gedo region, close to the border with Kenya.
Clan elders reached by telephone from the capital Mogadishu said they had failed to settle the dispute over the town which serves as a hub for trade and commerce between Somali and Kenyan businesses.
Among the dead were militiamen whose battlewagon -- a truck mounted with heavy machinery -- hit a land mine, residents said.
Insecurity has been synonymous with Somalia since warlords overran the country in 1991, carving it into fiefdoms after ousting dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.