LAS ANOD, Somalia Sep 18 (Garowe Online) - Tensions have been high in parts of northern Somalia for the past two days as two rival administrations exchanged artillery and sent heavy reinforcements along their disputed unofficial border, sources said.

Officials in the semiautonomous Puntland region confirmed today that their forces exchanged artillery with security forces from neighboring Somaliland, a breakaway region seeking independence from the rest of Somalia.

At least one person was reported dead in yesterday's exchanges that included a militia gun battle, but a senior official in Somaliland told reporters that 3 fighters from Puntland were killed in the battle. [ Full story]

Senior Puntland government officials blamed the region's former Security Minister, Ahmed Abdi Habsade, for yesterday's clashes in a village north of Las Anod, capital of the disputed Sool province.

Mr. Habsade, who was sacked in July by Puntland President Adde Muse, denied the accusations but confirmed that armed fighters belonging to his sub-clan had entered Las Anod and engaged in a gun battle with Puntland security forces yesterday.

The situation in Las Anod as of Tuesday was calm, but residents expressed concern about the arrival of fresh troops in the region.

Military sources in Garowe, Puntland's administrative capital, told Garowe Online that upwards of 30 armored trucks left their barracks on Tuesday en route to Las Anod to reinforce the Puntland presence there.

Somaliland has maintained a heavily-armed presence roughly 35km northwest of Las Anod for the last four years, with reliable reports suggesting the Somaliland troops there had also received armed reinforcements.

The breakaway Somaliland government is seeking independence from Somalia under borders erected by long-gone European colonialists that effectively divided Somalia into northern and southern spheres.

But Puntland disputes those borders and also claims the regions of Sool and Sanaag for clan-related reasons.

Source: Garowe Online