In southern Somalia, internecine fighting erupted after dark on 19 June, and it was merciless, the villagers said. Rival factions divided by personal, clan and ideological differences opened fire with automatic weapons in Barawe, in the Lower Shabelle region. The locals cowered in their homes as the bullets flew. Trouble had been brewing for months. But once the shooting started, there was no going back. Within days, al-Shabaab, Somalia's most feared Islamist militia and western-designated terrorist group, had split. The nationalist wing was routed, and the so-called global jihadists, led by the group's hardline emir, Ahmed Abdi Godane (aka Sheikh Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr), had taken control.
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