Somalia’s army says it drove opposition fighters out of Baidoa, the largest city in the country’s South West State, after hours of heavy fighting that began before dawn on Monday.
The Defence Ministry said fighters loyal to former South West State president Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen attacked federal positions using vehicles loaded with explosives. It said federal forces killed 30 attackers and repelled the assault.
Competing claims over Baidoa
Laftagareen’s camp said in an earlier Facebook post that its forces had captured the city centre. The Defence Ministry, however, said the attackers were pushed out and accused Laftagareen’s forces of fighting alongside al-Shabab, the al-Qaeda-linked armed group.
Residents told the AFP news agency that the clashes were the fiercest since the Somali army took control of Baidoa in March. Doctors Without Borders said several casualties had reached its hospital and that fighting had taken place on two fronts.
Why the city has remained contested
Laftagareen led South West State for more than seven years before severing ties with Mogadishu in March. The break followed controversial constitutional amendments backed by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, which extended the president’s term by a year and substantially changed Somalia’s power-sharing arrangement under the 2012 provisional constitution.
The ensuing clashes included fighting in the capital. The Somali army then seized Baidoa, prompting Laftagareen to resign. His supporters have attacked the city repeatedly since, including a failed attempt to retake control of the state in May.
A city under humanitarian pressure
Baidoa is about 245km northwest of Mogadishu and hosts hundreds of thousands of people displaced by war and climate events. The latest fighting adds to instability in a country where millions are facing malnutrition and famine.
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