Renewed fighting broke out early on Thursday, 3 September, between Somali government forces and militias on the outskirts of Baidoa. Residents described heavy gunfire and stray bullets entering residential areas before the clashes stopped in the early afternoon.
Somalia’s Defence Ministry said its forces were responding to fighters loyal to former South West state president Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen and alleged that al-Shabab also took part. That is a government allegation, not a verified fact: the Associated Press said it could not immediately confirm the claimed coordination. Dr Abdikafi Omar Mohamud, head of emergency services at Bay Regional Hospital, told AP that the hospital received 71 wounded people—including 15 women—and one dead civilian. Authorities had not issued a complete casualty figure.
The confrontation grows from a dispute over control of South West state after federal forces took Baidoa on 30 March and Laftagareen resigned. It follows deadly fighting in August, when the same hospital reported four civilian deaths and 98 wounded. The location sharply raises the civilian risk: Baidoa is a major relief centre hosting more than 500,000 people displaced by drought and conflict. Preventing renewed fighting around homes, hospitals and aid routes is therefore the immediate test.
