Somali Islamists and pro-government soldiers shelled each other in a second day of fighting today, witnesses said, a major escalation of violence many fear will erupt into all-out war.
The fighting occurred in Maddoy village about 25 miles from the interim government's headquarters in Baidoa, the only town it controls in its own country.
The two sides fought in the area yesterday, killing at least two bystanders. "The war restarted about 30 minutes ago," Maddoy resident Ahmed Mohamed Adan told Reuters by telephone. "They are shelling each other heavily."
He said government forces and Ethiopian troops, pushed back by fighters from the Somali Islamic Courts Council (SICC) yesterday, returned to the area early today with 20 "technicals" - pickup trucks mounted with heavy weapons. The Islamists rule much of southern Somalia under sharia, Islamic law, and want to take over the anarchic nation.
Another resident, Adan Mohamed Nur, told Reuters by telephone that he could hear the fighting going on: "But I do not know who is pushing who." Islamist spokesman Abdirahman Ali Mudey confirmed Saturday's fighting, but had no information on casualties: "The war is still going on."
The SICC today announced by radio a ban on trucks going to Baidoa from Mogadishu, the main port, to cut off the government's food supply. It has already banned fuel shipments.
Salad Ali Jelle, the government's deputy defence minister, said commanders in the field reported no clashes on Saturday. "But war could start any minute because we are so close to each other," he said.