MOGADISHU/NAIROBI: Clashes between pro-government and separatist militias in a northeastern Somali region have killed at least eight people and wounded 24 more, a local elder said on Wednesday.

The fighting erupted on Tuesday in Puntland’s Dhahar district, roughly 260 kilometres (160 miles) from the regional capital Garowe, between a militia aligned with the federal government and one connected to a push for independence.

Oil-rich Puntland declared its autonomy in 1998 and the region has had strained relations with the central government in Mogadishu.

“It seems that things are getting out of hand, already eight people from the two warring sides died and twenty-four others were wounded in the armed confrontation,” local elder Abdiwahid Warsame said.

Blast kills three Kenyan soldiers on road; Al Shabab claims responsibility for the attack

He said that pro-government forces had begun to create their own militia, raising the ire of local clans opposed to Mogadishu, and this “led to armed confrontation”. “I saw the dead bodies of five combatants admitted at the hospital and dozens of wounded people,” said witness Abdikarin Jama in Dhahar.

“There were tensions this morning even though the fighting has stopped,” he added by telephone. Puntland regional police chief Jama Mohamud Gabere said the attacks were “organised from Mogadishu” and were an attempt to “cause violence and chaos”. Somalia urged restraint after “the unfortunate incident”, but did not give any further details.

Al Shabab attack

A blast has killed three Kenyan soldiers patrolling a road in the east of the country near the Somali border, the military said.

The Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab said on its website at least two Kenyan soldiers were killed and others wounded in a blast that targeted a convoy in a similar area on Tuesday, but it did not directly claim responsibility.

The patrol hit an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on Tuesday morning on the road between Sankuri and Kiunga, a coastal town 12 km (7.5 miles) from the Somali border, the army said.

“Regrettably, three gallant soldiers succumbed to their injuries. These soldiers paid the ultimate sacrifice,” the Kenya Defence Forces said in a statement released late on Tuesday.

Al Shabaab controls large swathes of southern and central Somalia and frequently makes cross-border attacks on military and civilian targets, which security analysts say are aimed at pressuring Kenya into withdrawing its troops from peacekeeping missions in Somalia.

Meanwhile, more than 80 suspected members of the militant Islamic State group have been arrested across Ethiopia, state media said, claiming they intended to carry out a “terror mission”.

The 82 individuals were trained in neighbouring Somali Puntland region, according to state outlet Fana Media Corporation, which cited a statement from the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS).

Ethiopia shares a long border with Somalia, which for months has been experiencing a resurgence of attacks by the Al Shabaab group. Fana said the suspected IS members were “identified and arrested”, but did not give any further details.

The suspects “had been recruited for a terror mission”, Fana said, noting the arrests took place in several regions across the country, including capital Addis Ababa.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2025