Saturday, October 25, 2008
The operation is aimed at quelling the strife between Garre and Murale ethnic Somali clans, whose fighting was based on the ownership of grazing lands outside Mandera.
Last week, two Somali clans fought in and outside the Kenyan border town of Mandera. The fighting which erupted over the ownership of grazing lands first started in Koroney village about 14km south of Mandera and then spread into the city claiming at least eight lives.
According to Abdi Samad Nur Ibrahim who spoke to APA by phone, dozens of military helicopters have been flying over the city since day break.
“No business is open and there are no traffic movements in the city today. The police and military forces are searching every house,” Nur Ibrahim said.
The commissioner of the Somali border town of Beled Hawo, Ahmed Mohamed Yusuf, told APA that thousands of Mandera residents fled to his town for safety to escape from the raging strife.
“The town is not so big and cannot hold such number of people, we are calling for both clans to stop hostility so that vulnerable people can return to their homes,” he said.
Mandera is a border city between Kenya Somalia and Ethiopia.
Meanwhile, Somali Islamic courts administrators in the border town of Elwaq-Somalia have handed back to Kenyan authorities a car which was snatched by Somali gunmen early on Friday.
According to residents, Somali militias stole the car from the Kenyan side of the border but Islamic courts intercepted and returned it to Kenya the same day.
Source: APA, Oct 25, 2008