Reports reaching the Halgan Media service desk reveal deadly clashes have once again erupted near the Somali border town of Tuliguuleed in Fafaan province.

Local contacts reveal shortly after sunset heavily armed Oromo paramilitary forces and allied militias traveling in multiple lorries from the town of Jinicsani crossed the Oromo-Ogaden border and advanced on the Somali inhabited villages surrounding the border town of Tuliguuleed.

The first round of clashes erupted in the Somali village of Walgo, in which the local Somali villagers put up a stiff resistance against the advancing Oromo death squads (Paramilitary militias) as both sides engaged in fierce clashes. The Somalis where able to repel the cross border raid with small arms fire but lost one of there comrades in the battle by the name of Maxamed Nageeye and another individual that suffered a gunshot wound but refused to be named in this report for safety concerns.

When the smoke cleared as the clashes came to an end, the bodies of three Oromo militias fighters where found on the ground clutching there Klashnikov rifles wearing military attire matching the uniform worn by troops from the neighboring Oromo Regional State (OPDO). The local Somali villagers striped the Klashnikov rifles from the bodies of the dead paramilitaries and left the bodies laying in the dirt.

The strategic Somali border town of Tuliguuleed has been attacked on a near weekly basis for the past several months by Oromo militias and various Oromo paramilitary factions with full backing of the neighboring Oromo Regional State (OPDO) with full knowledge of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed yet what’s worrisome is the fact that the Jigjiga based Somali Regional administration is yet to address the situation in Tuliguuleed, despite the fact that the town is only 30 kilometers away from Jigjiga.

We will keep you updated with the latest developments and updates from the region.

Halgan Media