Rival militias in arid southwestern Somalia battled Saturday for control over a village with pastures and wells. Twelve combatants died, and hundreds of residents fled, a traditional leader and a medical worker said, according to AP. The 2 1/2-hour clash between separate groups from the Rahwein clan began early Saturday, when Yontar community fighters attacked the village of Idale in a bid to seize it from the Hubeyr community. Hundreds of people fled their homes in the Bai region before the fighting ended at dawn, elder Salimow Sheikh said. Combatants used assault rifles, machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenades, nurse Liban Mohamed Nageye said in a radio interview from a neighboring village. Eight were killed during the fighting, and four others died while being treated for wounds, he said. At least eight others were wounded, Sheikh said by two-way radio from a nearby town, citing fellow elders in the stricken village.
