At least 50 killed in clashes between Somali, Ethiopian militias on border: official

At least 50 people were killed and scores of others injured in border clashes between Somali clan militia and Ethiopian paramilitary unit since last week, the Somali authorities said on Monday.

Somalia’s Galgadud region governor, Hussein Weheliye Cirfo, said most of the victims are civilians in the week-long fighting between Somali militia and Ethiopian force known as “Liyu police.”

“Liyu police unit attacked the Somali nomad community, killing 50 people, among them 11 women,” said Cirfo, adding that hundreds of families had fled the villages as fighting escalated on Monday.

Somali Interior Minister, Abdirahman Odowaa, said his government was working with Ethiopian authorities to deal with the issue.

“We are talking with our counterparts in Ethiopia so that we can find an amicable solution to this problem,” said Odowaa.

Liyu police is an Ethiopian paramilitary unit operating in Ethiopia’s ethnic Somali region.