At least 13 people, mostly civilians have died in a clash between Somali residents and Ethiopian forces that had crossed the border, Radio Garowe reports.

Irritated residents armed with rifles violently confronted the Ethiopian forces who had crossed into Buhodle town, etched between the northern regions of Puntland and Somaliland.

Both regions claim ownership over Buhodle, but local residents fought Ethiopian troops who entered the town for yet-undisclosed reasons.

Elders said three Ethiopian soldiers and at least 10 residents in a shoot-out that resident blame on the Ethiopians.

"The Ethiopians crossed the border two weeks ago and started searching several trucks and held them for several days, the villagers expressed anger and engaged the troops in gun battle," Abdi Mohammud, a resident was quoted as saying.

Reports suggest that more Ethiopian troops were deployed in the area after the clashes.

This is first for residents to face off with Ethiopian troops, who routinely across the border and clash with Islamist insurgents controlling the Somali border towns in south-central Somalia. But this is the first violent incursion of its kind in northern Somalia.

Ethiopia withdrew its forces from Somalia in early 2009 after spending two years to back the UN-backed transitional government in ousting then Union of Islamic Courts that controlled most parts of the country including Mogadishu.

GAROWE ONLINE