Pro-Somalia militia takes key army base in breakaway region

A militia loyal to the Somali government said Friday that it had seized a major base belonging to the army in the southern part of the breakaway region of Somaliland.

The Sool region, of which the disputed city of Las Anod is the capital, has seen months of conflict between Somaliland troops and a clan militia challenging the authorities of the self-proclaimed republic, which declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but has never been recognised internationally.

One of the commanders of the SSC militia, Abdiqani Mohamed, told AFP his fighters had taken control of Goojacade, the Somaliland army's largest base in the area, located near Las Anod.

"We have launched an organised major attack on the main base of the Somaliland army early this morning. We have taken control of all the military bases they had outside Las Anod, including the main Goojacade base," Mohamed said.

"There are casualties on both sides," he said, adding that his men had captured weapons and taken an unspecified number of prisoners.

Hundreds of people died when fighting broke out in the area in February between the SSC and troops from the government of Somaliland.

Las Anod residents contacted by telephone said they had heard the sound of heavy fighting on Friday morning.

Another SSC commander, Abdullahi Muhidin, said the group had also captured "several checkpoints" held by the Somaliland army.

Somaliland's defence ministry said its troops had vacated positions to the east of the Sool region, but said its army was reorganising and preparing a counter-attack.

Las Anod is claimed by both Somaliland and neighbouring Puntland, which is an autonomous region of Somalia.

The fighting in February erupted after traditional clan leaders in the area pledged to support the central government of Somalia in Mogadishu and urged the breakaway Somaliland authorities to withdraw their troops.

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders said on July 24 it had to stop work at Las Anod's general hospital, citing "recurrent attacks on medical facilities and the level of extreme violence in Las Anod (which) have reached the threshold where MSF is no longer able to provide medical care".

On February 16, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that more than 185,000 people had fled the violence.

Somaliland, a region of 4.5 million people, is a former British protectorate that prints its own currency, issues its own passports and elects its own government.

But its quest for statehood has gone unrecognised, leaving it poor and isolated. The region has nonetheless been relatively stable in comparison to Somalia, which has witnessed decades of civil war and Islamist insurgency.