Mogadishu, Aug. 5 — Heavy fighting erupted on Wednesday on the eastern outskirts of Galkayo in central Somalia, with Puntland security forces battling fighters from the Puntland Security Force (PSF), who Puntland authorities allege are backed by Somalia's federal government.
Residents said both sides exchanged heavy weapons fire, including mortar rounds, forcing civilians to flee neighborhoods near the frontline as explosions and sustained gunfire echoed across the area.
The fighting triggered a wave of displacement, with many families abandoning their homes for safer locations amid fears that the violence could spread to other parts of the divided city.
The clashes came a day after separate fighting broke out in southern Galkayo, which falls under the neighboring Galmudug state, where government forces and armed militias exchanged fire. Local reports said that confrontation was linked to a dispute over weapons allegedly being transported toward the northern part of the city.
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Late Tuesday, Puntland accused Somalia's federal government of interfering in its internal affairs and fueling the conflict in the Mudug region. In a statement, Puntland warned against what it described as attempts to undermine the region's security and stability.
The federal government had not issued an official response to the latest fighting by Wednesday morning.
There were no independently verified casualty figures, and the full extent of the damage remained unclear.
The violence comes amid deepening political and security tensions between Somalia's federal government and Puntland, raising concerns that renewed fighting in Galkayo could further destabilize the strategically important city and worsen the humanitarian situation for civilians.
