MOGADISHU (AFP) — Thirteen people were killed and several others wounded on Tuesday in separate fighting and attacks in the Somali capital and a neighbouring region, officials and witnesses said.
Militia from warring factions of the Abgal clan fought over an unresolved land dispute in Haji-Ali village, some 120 kilometres (75 miles) north of the capital Mogadishu, they said.
"Nine people died and several others were wounded," said Nur Sheikh Adan, an elder in a neighbouring village. "The two sub-clans were fighting over an unresolved land dispute. The clashes continued for about seven hours."
Muse Ali Iyow, the district commissioner of the Middle Shabelle region where the spat occurred said authorities had deployed mediators try and secure a truce.
"We have sent a committee to see what is happening there and negotiate a lasting ceasefire. We need to stop the bloodshed because many people died," he said.
The violence comes four days after 11 people were killed in clan fighting in the neighbouring Hiraan region.
Inter-clan fighting has been common in Somalia since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991, sparking a deadly power struggle in the nation of 10 million.
Meanwhile, four people, including two policemen were killed in the capital Mogadishu, where the Ethiopia-backed government is battling an Islamist-led insurgency, witnesses said.
The Islamists have been fighting since they were expelled from the country's south and central regions earlier this year.
Witness Hassan Abdullahi Hussein said a roadside explosion targeting a police patrol killed two civilians and a policemen in Holwadag, one of Mogadishu's most volatile districts.
Moments later, unknown gunmen killed another policeman in the capital's Taleh neighborhood, Mohamed Haji Omar, a witness told AFP.
The insurgency has led an estimated 600,000 displaced to leave Mogadishu in recent weeks, prompting growing fears of a terrible humanitarian crisis.
In a statement, the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) said it "remains extremely concerned by the humanitarian situation of the Somali population."
"Throughout 2007, Somalia has suffered a series of shocks caused by the conflict and by natural disasters. The situation is particularly desperate in Mogadishu, which has been repeatedly battered," said Pascal Hundt, the ICRC chief for Somalia.
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