MOGADISHU, Somalia, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Al-Shabaab militants attempting to take control of a provincial capital in central Somalia clashed with members of a moderate Muslim group.
Witnesses told CNN about 30 people were killed in the fighting Saturday.
An al-Shabaab spokesman said the Islamist rebel group had seized Dhusomareb, Shabelle Media reported, while he rival group Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a said it had successfully ousted al-Shabaab from the town.
Al-Shabaab has refused to accept the peace agreement that installed a former ally of the group, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, as Somali president. The group is believed to have ties to al-Qaida and to have recruited young men from Somali immigrant communities in the United States to return to their homeland to fight.
Ahluu Sunna Waljama'a is a transnational organization trying to fight radical Islamists in Somalia.
