5 dead, 12 Hurt in al-Shabab Attack on Somali Military Base

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At least five people were killed and 12 others wounded Saturday in heavy fighting between Somali National Army soldiers and al-Shabab militants in the Bakol region of southwestern Somalia, officials said.

Somali army officials told reporters that the militants had attacked a government military base in el-Lahelay village, about 20 kilometers west of Hudur, the provincial capital of the region.

The militants used machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades to assault the base from different directions at midday Saturday, engaging in a fierce gunbattle with Somali troops for about an hour, officials said.

On the condition of anonymity, witnesses told a reporter in the region that they saw the bodies of at least five combatants, some from each side. No civilian casualties were reported.

Meanwhile, a cease-fire was brokered between two rival clan militias near the central Somali city of Beledweyne, about 325 kilometers north of Mogadishu — a move intended to end several days of fighting that killed at least 25 people.