Confrontations in Somalia

Some 11 persons were killed and 20 others wounded in confrontations in which rockets and anti-tank machine guns were used in a fierce battle that took place among warring Somali groups over winning a contract to maintain a water irrigation canal financed by a German relief group.

News reports from the Mahadai area in southern Somalia said on Sunday that the fighting stopped but the situation is very tense and that hundreds fled from their houses out of fear of being exposed to acts of violence.

Fleeing citizens from Mahadai said on Saturday that the confrontations took place after the collapse of talks called for by sheikhs of tribes.