By Asha Elmi - Reporter
Baidoa, 3 September 2026 Somalia's Defence Ministry said government forces repelled a pre-dawn attack on the city of Baidoa on Thursday, in the latest escalation of tensions between the federal government and rival political forces in South West state.
The ministry said the attack began at about 4:15 a.m., describing the attackers as militias loyal to former South West leader Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen and al-Shabab fighters.
Government forces repelled the attack and inflicted heavy losses on the attackers, the ministry said, without providing details.
The ministry did not give a figure for those killed or wounded, nor did it provide casualties among government forces or civilians.
Baidoa district police commander Ali Taagey said government forces had defeated the attackers and described the outcome as a victory.
Separately, Ugas Hassan Abdi Mohamed, a former spokesman for South West state, said forces he described as the South West Darawish, loyal to Laftagareen, had launched an attack on the city.
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The competing accounts could not immediately be independently verified, and there was no independent casualty count.
The clashes come amid a political and security dispute between Somalia's federal government and the new South West state leadership on one side and the former South West leadership on the other.
The dispute has deepened in recent months as the federal government has sought to strengthen its authority in South West state, while Laftagareen and his supporters have opposed the new political arrangements.
The South West cabinet recently said in a resolution that it had designated Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen and members of his group as part of a terrorist organization.
The designation represents a further escalation in the political confrontation, although the circumstances surrounding the latest fighting and the identities of all those involved could not be independently confirmed.