More than thirty people have been killed in Somalia in a battle between rival clans in the south.

Witnesses said the two sides fought with heavy machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

The clashes, which began on Thursday, involved militiamen from the Jido and Gare communities in and around the town of Qoryooley in the Lower Shabelle region.

An Islamic court and local leaders had tried unsuccessfully to organise a ceasefire.

The cause of the fighting is unclear but tensions between the two sides had been made worse by thefts from each other's cattle herds.

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