At least 11 killed in Somalian gunbattle

At least 11 people have been killed and scores more injured in a gunbattle between two factions of a powerful militia in Somalia.

The fighting broke out in the central Medina district, south of Mogadishu, where large numbers of fighters had gathered to greet a local commander, Omar Mohamud, who has signed a peace agreement with the country’s president.

This peace deal has caused a rift in the militia, with another faction leader, Musa Sude Yalahow, opposed to the country’s central government and the peace talks.

President Abdiqasim Salad Hassan’s government was elected at a peace conference in neighbouring Djibouti in August 2000.

It is the country’s first central administration since dictator Mohammed Siad Barre was deposed by tribal militias in 1991.

Following Siad Barre’s ouster, the militias fought each other and divided the nation of seven million people into clan-based fiefdoms ruled by heavily armed militias. Despite the installation of a central government, these militias still control tribal areas.