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9 killed in battle between Puntland forces and al-Shabab militants

04 March 2012 01:41 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Al-Shabab militants attacked a checkpoint manned by soldiers of Puntland’s government on Friday night, and fighting continued until the crack of dawn on Saturday, APA reports quoting Press TV.

â€œWe first attacked their checkpoint near Bosasso last night. Then this morning they attacked us at Baliqadar, 40 kilometers (24 miles) to the east of Bosasso. We also burnt three of their armed vehicles using landmines," al-Shabab military spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab said.

He also claimed that al-Shabab militants had killed 32 Puntland soldiers, and three of their own fighters had lost their lives in the battle.

However, local officials reported a lower death toll.

"We received nine dead people and six others were wounded. These include five dead bodies of al-Shabab and three other injured ones, who are being kept in the hospital by police," Abdiqadir Mohamud, a doctor at Bosasso Hospital, said.

In January 2011, Puntland’s authorities issued a statement announcing that they had broken with the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) based in Mogadishu.

In the statement, the Puntland government said that the TFG "does not represent Puntland in international forumsâ€ and that the United Nations Political Office for Somalia should "reconsider its position and support for the TFG at the expense of other Somali stakeholders."

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

The weak Western-backed transitional government in Mogadishu has been battling al-Shabab fighters for the past five years and is propped up by a 12,000-strong African Union force from Uganda, Burundi, and Djibouti.