At least seven people have been killed while eleven others sustained injuries on Wednesday in a fresh fighting between Somali government forces and Hizbul Islam rebel fighters in Beledweyn town, the capital of Hiiran Region, approximately 206 miles (332 km) north of the capital Mogadishu, witnesses and officials said.

The fighting started after rebel fighters carried out attacks on Somali forces based in a village outskirts of the town, prompting heavy gun battle that spread into the western wing of the central town.

Mohammed Osman Arus, a spokesman for Hizbul Islam said his group has crushed the Somali forces, killing several soldiers and recapturing the town.

“Early today, we carried out heavy attacks on the Somali government forces’ base in the outskirts of the town. We managed to oust them from there and inflict them heavy casualties,” he told reporters in Beledweyne, adding that his group have lost some fighters and others injured

He also claimed that his fighters have captured several soldiers who are currently held in the town, declining to outline what steps his group will take against the prisoners.

The defeated government forces have regrouped in Elgal, a village 13 kilometres north of Beledweyne. Some government soldiers in Mogadishu have confirmed that the strategic town has fallen into the hands of the rebel group.

Residents have also confirmed the presence of battlewagons belonging to Hizbul Islam and several fighters stationed in the town’s regional offices.

The town, which strategically borders Ethiopia and connects the capital Mogadishu to central Somalia, has changed hands several times in recent weeks.

Somalia has been marred by years of civil war which erupted after the ouster of President Mohammed Siad Bare in 1991 by Mogadishu warlords.

GAROWE ONLINE