By Stephanie McCrummen
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, June 23, 2007

NAIROBI, June 22 -- In another sign of trouble for Somalia's transitional government, fighting erupted Friday among hundreds of government soldiers belonging to two rival sub-clans.

Seven people were killed in the brief but heavy battle near the southern coastal city of Kismaayo, home to a lucrative port and fertile farmland that the Majerteen, the sub-clan of Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf, and the Marehan, their historical enemies, would both like to control.

Tensions between the two groups have been building for weeks, and mortar and antiaircraft fire broke out Friday morning.

The rival soldiers, who numbered at least 800 and were joined by their respective sub-clan militias, commandeered heavy weapons and shelled each other for an hour along a road through a vacant, muddy swath of land, according to Kismaayo residents and Abdirisak Farah, a Marehan commander.

Then, still in their Somali army uniforms, they retreated.

Yusuf's Ethiopian-backed government, which ousted an Islamic movement from power in January, has been accused by rival clans of putting the interests of Yusuf's clan and sub-clan above the cause of national unity and reconciliation.

That perception, along with the continued presence of Ethiopian troops Somalis widely view as occupiers, has deepened the clan divisions evident in Friday's fighting.

In Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, insurgent attacks against Ethiopian troops and Somali government officials have become almost routine.

Yusuf and his Ethiopian backers have responded to the growing insurgency, composed of disgruntled clan militias and fighters loyal to the Islamic movement, with brute force.

The latest crackdown began two weeks ago, as Ethiopian troops began arresting dozens and perhaps hundreds of Mogadishu businessmen suspected of supporting the opposition and conducting house-to-house searches for weapons.

On Friday, Ethiopian troops accompanied by intelligence officials raided the offices of Hormud, the largest telecommunications company in Somalia, witnesses and a company official said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he believed that the raid was aimed at gathering phone records, which Hormud had refused to hand over. Ethiopian troops also busted open safes and locked drawers and absconded with thousands of dollars, he said.

Special correspondent Mohamed Ibrahim in Mogadishu contributed to this report.