Clashes broke out early Thursday on the outskirts of Baidoa (a city some 245 kilometres northwest of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu) between government troops and militia loyal to former South West State president Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen, prompting residents to flee several neighbourhoods. A doctor at the Bay Regional Hospital reported receiving 24 wounded and one civilian fatality, while Somalia's defence ministry said its forces were responding to a joint attack by Laftagareen's militia and Al-Shabab fighters. The violence marks the latest flare-up in an ongoing power struggle between the federal government and Laftagareen's allies over South West State, a dispute that led federal forces to seize control of Baidoa in late March and Laftagareen to step down shortly after.