MOGADISHU, Somalia, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Fighting has broken out in a previously peaceful part of Somalia over the distribution of food aid, the BBC said Thursday.
Gunfire and raids erupted in the Sool region, which is claimed by both the self-declared Somaliland Republic and a group called Puntland.
Somalia has been without a functioning national government since the overthrow of President Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991.
Puntland and Somaliland blame each other for starting the hostilities. Puntland said one of its soldiers was killed, and Somaliland claims to have captured three prisoners.
"It's not a war, it was a chasing away of bandits who were trying to disrupt and cause enough confusion to loot rations," Somaliland's Foreign Minister Edna Adan Ismael told the BBC.
