Fierce clashes erupted in Baidoa (a major city in Somalia's South West State and home to over half a million internally displaced people) on Monday when militia loyal to former regional president Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen attacked government positions, leaving dozens dead — including at least four civilians — and nearly 100 wounded. Somalia's federal government alleged that Laftagareen's forces fought alongside al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda-linked insurgent group, with South West State's internal security minister stating that al-Shabaab fighters were found among the dead and captured alive. The attack is the latest in a string of offensives since the Somali army seized Baidoa earlier this year following Laftagareen's break with the federal government in Mogadishu, and underscores the compounding pressures facing a government already battling a two-decade insurgency and mounting resistance from regional administrations.