Members of a “terrorist militia” attacked soldiers yesterday after they managed to fight back in Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland despite a ceasefire announced by the authorities on Friday night, Somaliland’s official television reported. government of Somalia by militias in the disputed city of Las Anod in the unilaterally declared Republic of Somaliland.
The clashes began a few hours after the tribal leaders in the Sul region, where Las Anod is located, issued a statement in which they pledged to maintain “the unity and security of the Federal Republic of Somalia”, calling on the Somaliland authorities to withdraw their forces from the region, region.
“The Somaliland National Army has been attacked by terrorist militias in Las Anod,” the official Somaliland television said on Twitter.
The television added in a tweet that “the national army managed to repel the attack and is currently on high alert at its military base in Las Anuda.”
Somaliland Defense Minister Abdul Ghani Mohamud Ati announced on Twitter on Friday night an “unconditional ceasefire”.
For his part, Jarad Jaime Jarad Ali, a militia leader fighting the unilaterally declared republic of Somaliland, said: “Last night they declared a ceasefire, but they bombed the town” of Las Anud.
He confirmed the doctor’s death at yesterday’s press conference.
The United Nations said on Tuesday that at least twenty people had died in the clashes and called on authorities to investigate.
