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Somalia

Over 50 dead in ongoing Somali port town battle

Nairobi/Mogadishu_(dpa) _ At least 50 people have died and thousands have fled after three days of heavy fighting in the Somali port town of Kismayo, a local elder said Friday.

"Many people have died - up to now we heard more than 50, but the death toll may increase," Ibrahim Ali, an elder in Kismayo, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by telephone.

Fighting was still continuing Friday afternoon, but all communication to the town had been cut off.

According to the online portal of Somali radio station Garowe, fighting broke out on Wednesday after a landmine targeted local clan militia.

Islamic insurgents are believed to be attempting to seize the strategic port from the local clan that controls the town, which lies around 500 kilometres south of Mogadishu.

Garowe said that bodies were lying in the streets and that businesses remained closed as fighting raging throughout the town.

Al-Shabaab, the armed wing of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), has been waging a guerrilla war since Ethiopian troops helped the government oust the UIC in late 2006.

The interim government has been unable to achieve stability in the Horn of Africa country, which has been plagued by chaos and clan-based civil war since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled in 1991. dpa ml lsm ds

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