Tension has been mounting in Baidoa, capital town of Bay region in central Somalia after skirmishes left two people dead between militias loyal to president Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed and local militias.

The clashes came after Mr Yusuf’s militias with battlewagons heading to Wajid town forcefully crossed a check point from Baidoa to Wajid where the conflict occurred.

It caused the death of two people from local militias who were on the checkpoint.

Local militias of the same clans with those injured immediately moved on retaliation action, firing on a vehicle thought to be owned by militias from Puntland and who are the president’s clan, killing two people and wounding three others.

The fighting between the two sides has impacted on the security of the town, which is the base for the transitional federal government.

Overnight, a convoy carrying relief supplies chartered by WFP came under fire at a checkpoint at the gateway of Baidoa.