Murderous clashes among rival Somali clans, which caught civilians in crossfire in Mogadishu's Bermuda district and claimed some 16 lives in all, left the capital tense Saturday, residents said.
The city had calmed down after Friday's street fighting, but the chief of Bermuda's Agbal community said: "At least 16 people were killed. Many of those critically wounded will either die or be permanently disabled."
The clashes pitted Agbal militiamen, loyal to north Mogadishu strongman Ali Mahdi Mohamed, against those of the Habr Gedir clan, headed by warlord Hussein Mohamed Aidid, who is powerful in the south of the city.
Rival militias maintained defensive position overnight Friday and sporadic gunfire could be heard during the dark hours, residents said.
Bermuda is an Abgal enclave in the south, surrounded by the Habr Gedir.
Reinforcements of pick-up trucks with mounted guns had moved in from north Mogadishu to help the Abgal fighters patrolled the roads leading to Bermuda from areas controlled by Aidid.
Friday's bloodshed started because "the Haber Gedir carried out an unjustifiable attack on residents as they slept," according to the Bermuda community leader, Ahmed Wahliye Afrah "Kashiito".
"We are obliged to take strong defensive measures," he said, but he denied reports that the Habr Gedir launched the attack to avenge the killing of one of their numbers by an Abgal resident of Bermuda, in the south of the city.
Leaders of clan-based factions have ruled different parts of Somalia and battled for authority since the collapse of any central government with the 1991 overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre -- MOGADISHU (AFP)
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