MOGADISHU (Reuters) - At least 15 Somali gunmen were killed on Friday as rival militias fought for a second day for control of the southern port town of Kismayu, radio reports from the area said.
Residents said hundreds of fighters loyal to warlord General Mohammed Morgan launched a major attack on rivals of the Juba Valley Alliance, a clan-based grouping that recently helped set up a new civil administration in the town of 50,000.
Radio reports said hundreds of residents fled when Morgan's forces attempted to seize the regional capital Bualeh, starting a battle involving dozens of pick-up trucks mounted with heavy machineguns and at least 500 fighters from both sides.
It was not clear who controlled Bualeh after the battle, which followed clashes around Kismayu on Thursday in which nine people were reportedly killed.
Morgan is seeking to recapture Kismayu, 310 miles south of Mogadishu and the third largest town in the Horn of Africa country, after being ousted from it by fighters loyal to the alliance two years ago.
Radio reports said nine of the dead gunmen were fighters on Morgan's side, while the Juba Valley Alliance lost six men. More than 35 people were wounded, at least five critically.
Residents said both sides were preparing reinforcements.
The violence flared a month after a new Kismayu administration was set up as a result of six weeks of talks among local leaders organized by the alliance, a grouping of clans known as the Marehan, Ogadeni and Habar Gedir.
The new Kismayu authority is aligned to President Abdiqassim Salad Hassan's fledgling transitional government, the chaotic country's first attempt at a central administration in a decade.
Morgan, who retains a strong following in southern Somalia, belongs to the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC), an Ethiopian-backed grouping of Somali warlords who have vowed to set up a rival government to that of Abdiqassim. (map)
Residents said some of the ammunition, fuel and logistics for Morgan's fighters had been provided by Ethiopia, which is believed to be nervous about the backing the new Somali government receives from Islamic groups.
The militia chiefs who formed the SRRC earlier this year have flourished in the decade since the overthrow of dictator Mohammed Siad Barre and resent Abdiqassim's attempt to extend his control over their patchwork of territories.
Much of Somalia remains carved up into clan-based fiefdoms despite the creation of Abdiqassim's government last year.
A spokesman for Morgan said recently that the Kismayu authorities would bear responsibility for what he called any consequences of their new administration.
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Somalia has in effect been without a central government since 1991 when President Siad Barre was overthrown. Instead, warlords supported by heavily armed militias have ruled the areas under their control. The resulting inter-militia fighting and inability to deal with famine and disease have led to the death of up to one million people.