Somali federal troops retook control of Baidoa on Monday after hours of intense fighting with opposition forces loyal to the former president of South West state, leaving dozens of people dead and civilians caught in the violence.
The clashes were among the fiercest seen in the city since March, when federal forces seized Baidoa following a political rupture between Mogadishu and the South West administration of Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen.
Residents said government troops eventually pushed Laftagareen-aligned fighters out of the city after battles concentrated around central Baidoa.
Somalia’s defence ministry said federal troops came under attack before dawn from fighters using vehicles packed with explosives. It said government forces repelled the assault and killed about 30 attackers.
Footage posted on social media and verified by Reuters showed federal soldiers firing from an armoured vehicle while civilians carried injured people through the streets.
Four residents told Reuters that federal forces had regained control of the city and that bodies could be seen following the fighting.
Local elder Farah Ibrahim said he saw 10 bodies, including four civilians and six fighters from the opposing forces.
Laftagareen’s camp had earlier claimed on Facebook that its forces had captured Baidoa’s city centre. His representatives could not immediately be reached for comment after federal troops re-established control.
Monday’s violence comes amid mounting tensions between Somalia’s federal government and regional authorities over elections and constitutional changes.
Several state administrations have resisted Mogadishu’s influence over regional elections and objected to constitutional reforms that they say would centralise greater power in the federal executive.
The political confrontations have added another security challenge for the government as Somalia continues to battle the al-Shabaab militant group and confront a severe humanitarian crisis.
Baidoa is home to hundreds of thousands of people displaced by conflict and food insecurity elsewhere in the country.
A July survey by medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières found that one in four children living in displacement sites in Baidoa was suffering from severe malnutrition.