BAIDOA— Heavy fighting broke out in Baidoa early Tuesday morning between forces aligned with Somalia’s South West State administration and fighters loyal to former South West State President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen, according to local sources.

The fighting began at dawn and reportedly spread to several neighborhoods of the city. Residents said they could hear sustained gunfire in parts of Baidoa as the clashes continued.

The scale of casualties remains unclear. No independently verified figures on deaths or injuries were immediately available.

The two sides have offered conflicting accounts of the fighting.

Mohamed Sheikh Abdullahi Xaayow, a spokesperson for the South West State administration, said government forces had repelled an attack by what he described as armed groups. He accused Al-Shabaab of being behind the assault, although the allegation has not been independently verified.

Separately, Hassan Abdi Mohamed, the Information Minister for the faction aligned with Laftagareen and a former spokesperson for the former South West State president, claimed that forces loyal to Laftagareen had made advances during the fighting.

He also claimed that his forces had destroyed military vehicles supplied to Somalia by Turkey and set fire to several weapons and ammunition storage facilities belonging to opposing forces inside Baidoa. Those claims could not be independently verified.

The clashes come amid growing political tensions in South West State, where competing factions have been involved in a dispute over political authority and control.

Baidoa hosts key South West State institutions as well as Somali federal government security forces, making the city a strategically important center in the region.

The situation in Baidoa remained fluid, with further details on casualties, the extent of the fighting and control of military positions still emerging.