DHAHAR, Somalia Apr 14 (Garowe Online) - Gun battles erupted in the town of Dhahar Saturday afternoon following last week’s clashes, residents and officials said.

The fighting was between forces loyal to the self-declared Republic of Somaliland, northwestern Somalia, and the self-governing Puntland region to the east.

Reliable sources said Puntland security forces attacked the position of Somaliland troops who were in the town heralding a Somaliland Cabinet delegation that reportedly included the breakaway region’s defense minister.

There were reports of casualties on both sides but could not be independently verified. One witness said he saw three wounded civilians but could not give details on soldiers’ casualties.

Somaliland Information Minister Ahmed Dahir told the BBC Somali Service that Somaliland forces repulsed an attack from Puntland, adding that the Cabinet delegation remained in Dhahar district.

The minister also claimed that Somaliland had captured an unmentioned number of Puntland soldiers and 2 battlewagons, while burning a third one.

On the Puntland side, the region’s information minister, Abdurahman Bangah, said in a press statement that Somaliland forces attacked Puntland and that Puntland troops defended themselves and captured 5 battlewagons, while burning 3 other armored vehicles on the Somaliland side.

Neither information minister’s account of Saturday’s battles could be independently verified, since communication lines in Dhahar were cut off.

The two forces fought in the town last week. Somaliland claims that Dhahar, a district in the disputed region of Sanaag, is part of colonial-era “British Somaliland,” while the Puntland leadership also claims the region on the basis of clan relations.

Somaliland and Puntland have fought several times along their unmarked border since 2002, when Puntland security forces chased Somaliland President Dahir Riyale and his military convoy out of Las Anod, capital of disputed Sool region.

Garowe Online News