01 Oct 2009

A row between Rival Somali rebel groups over a strategic port town has erupted into violence, amid fears that the clashes has claimed up to 30 people.

Both groups, Al Shabaab and Hizb al-Islam, controlled Kismayo port under an uneasy alliance that shattered last week when the former seized control and appointed its own government.

A Press TV correspondent reported that fierce gun battles that broke out early on Thursday, killed more than 30 people in five neighborhoods of the port town, which lies 500 kilometer (310 miles) south of the capital.

Witness said Hizb al-Islam rebels had fled the town to nearby bases in Afmadow, with Al Shabaab fighters patrolling streets.

Al Shabaab, which has been waging a war against the UN-backed government of President Sharif Ahmed in Mogadishu, is considered Somalia's most powerful rebel militia.

Thousands of people have fled the new conflict in the strife-torn country.

"Kismayo is under the control of Al Shabaab, who were assisted by foreign fighters," Ahmed Mohamed Abdullah, a Hizb al-Islam supporter, told Reuters.


presstv