Feature: Heavy Fighting Continues in Northern Somalia

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, May 08, 2002

Feature: Heavy Fighting Continues in Northern Somalia

At least 16 people are confirmed dead as heavy fighting continued on Tuesday for the second day in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in the northern part of Somalia.

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At least 16 people are confirmed dead as heavy fighting continued on Tuesday for the second day in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in the northern part of Somalia.

The fighting is between the two contending men for the leadership of the region, Colonel Abdullahi Yussuf Ahmed, the former president of Puntland, and Jama Ali Jama, the new presidentof the regional government, but not recognized by Colonel Yussuf.

The fighting, starting from Monday which is just outside Garoweh town, has spread to an area as large as 200 kilometers wide.

Colonel Yussuf is aimed at taking Qardho town, 260 kilometers east of Garoweh town, where the supporters of Jama Ali Jama are based.

But the fighting on Monday was concentrated in Wabo village, 95kilometers east of Garoweh town.

The fighting in the area is believed to be the most catastrophic because the two sides are facing each other in a landwhere there are no trees or any other kind of shelter from the bullets of the other side.

Both sides are also using heavy weaponry such as the double barrel anti-aircraft heavy machine guns, 106mm recoilless rifles, RPGs, mortars, and all sorts of heavy machine guns and assault rifles.

On Monday, the fighting stopped as the sun set and each side started regrouping for more fighting on Tuesday and the fighting has resumed early on Tuesday morning with Colonel Yussuf's men taking the lead.

From around outside Hajji Kheyr village, the fighting spread toQardho town itself, the stronghold of Jama Ali Jama whose militiamen kept on retreating backwards since Monday.

The latest and independent reports confirmed that Qardho town has fallen for Colonel Yussuf on Monday morning.

According to independent sources, there has not been any exchange of gunfire inside the town as Jama Ali Jama's men just left the town as they saw they could not further stand against theadvancing men of Colonel Yussuf

Colonel Yussuf has made himself the airport of the town as his base and his militias surround the town. However, the fighting would not stop there as Colonel Yussuf still further aims at advancing towards his adversary's territories with the sole aim oftaking the port town of Bossaso, another 248 kilometers away, which is the only source of revenue for the entire region of Puntland.

It is very difficult to get concrete information from where thefighting continued, but a man running a VHF radio in Dangoroyo village, about eight kilometers west of the area where the fighting first started, said that the wounded are being brought tothe village in every hour.

At least 16 people are confirmed dead and more than 20 others from both sides are wounded, according to the VHF radio reports.

"More than a dozen wounded men have been brought to the village,and I saw eight of them in very critical condition," said the VHF radio man.

"All of these are the fighters of Colonel Yussuf," he added.

The exchange of the gunfire and the heavy artillery shelling could be heard from around all the villages surrounding Qardho town before it has fallen.

It is a big success for Colonel Yussuf to take Qardho town, because on one hand it might demoralize Jama Ali Jama's men and onthe other hand would take him a bit more closer to where he aims at all the time, the port town of Bossaso.

There are quite serious movements from the sides of Jama Ali Jama in bringing around as much militiamen as possible to stop Colonel Yussuf from taking the port town of Bossaso.

There has been no fighting at about noon on Tuesday around Qardho town, but tension was high and more fighting is expected asboth sides still aim defeating the other side.

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