The Somali Federal Government has formally disputed a joint United Nations and international humanitarian report regarding the total casualty figures from the recent armed clashes in Mogadishu. The Ministry of Health issued an official statement on Sunday evening asserting that only one death and 55 injuries have been clinically verified following two days of heavy urban warfare in the capital.
The official pushback directly counters unverified data published by the UN Protection Cluster and UNHCR Somalia, which stated that at least 13 civilians were killed and 189 others sustained injuries during the fighting. The Ministry of Health emphasized that its lower metrics were compiled using direct admissions logs from local public and private medical facilities across the Banadir region. Government authorities urged international partners and media institutions to cross-check field data before broadcasting figures that impact public safety.
The underlying political impasse remains highly volatile despite a fragile calm returning to the capital’s Abdiaziz and Hawlwadag districts. Heavy machine-gun fire and artillery exchanges erupted mid-week when federal security forces attempted to suppress a planned mass opposition protest against President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. Opposition figures, led by a coalition including former President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and former Prime Minister Hassan Khaire, have vehemently rejected a controversial parliamentary amendment passed in March that extended Mohamud’s executive term by one year beyond its original May expiration date.
The institutional tension is expanding significantly beyond Mogadishu. Reports from the Southwest State confirm that regional forces loyal to local leader Abdiaziz Laftagaren briefly seized control of key sectors in Baidoa following an armed gunfight with elements of the Somali National Army. Local clan elders have initiated emergency mediation to prevent opposition militias and federal forces from re-engaging, though opposition leaders publicly vowed to continue resisting the current administration’s constitutional changes.
