Thursday February 9, 2023
Mogadishu (HOL) - Eighteen people who have been injured in the ongoing fighting between the Somaliland military and SSC-Khatumo forces in Las Anod were transported to Mogadishu for medical treatment on Thursday.
The victims were taken from the airport in Garowe, the regional capital of Puntland.
Deputy Permanent Secretary at Office of the Prime Minister Fadumo Abid Ali, speaking at Garowe airport, said that government officials travelled to Garowe to assess the humanitarian situation and deliver aid and medicine to the injured in Las Anod.
She continued that the Somalia Disaster Management Agency is prepared to support the victims and address the situation. The government has filed a request for assistance to an international organization.
Puntland Minister of Health Jama Farah Hassan expressed gratitude to the regional and federal government agencies for aiding the afflicted. "We are here this morning to accompany some of the injured people from Las Anod."
Ilyas Osman Lugatoor, Puntland’s Minister of Civil Aviation and Airports, said that 90% of the injured were civilians whose homes were struck by heavy artillery shells.
Over 50 people were killed and more than 100 others wounded in the four consecutive heavy fighting in Las Anod.
Somalia's federal government has called on Somaliland to respect the desire of the Sool, Sanaag and Ayn communities and urged SSC-Khatuma and Somaliland officials to end the fighting in Las Anod town immediately.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud stated that the federal government is ready to participate in and facilitate a peace conference to resolve the tense situation in Las Anod town.
Analysts expect that the security situation in Las Anod will remain precarious throughout the rest of February. They expect further troop deployments to the area in the coming days and continued confrontations between local militia and Somaliland security.
The clashes came as traditional elders and leaders from the Sool, Sanaag, and Cayn (SSC) regions declared autonomy from Somaliland, which the Somaliland government rejected.