Pirate worried bloodshed would cut the sea gangs' profits.

[DainBramaged]

Fighting kills at least 17 in Somali pirate port

Gun battles between clan militiamen killed at least 17 people and wounded 30 Saturday at a pirate stronghold on the coast of Somalia, witnesses said.

The fighting began overnight and intensified in the morning, forcing most of Haradheere's residents to flee, local man Farah Aden told Reuters by satellite telephone.

"The two clans are fighting over land and a girl who was raped in the forest. Unfortunately, the battles spread into town ... Fighting is going on fiercely," he said.

Somalia has been torn by civil war since 1991, and the government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed controls only small pockets of the rubble-strewn capital Mogadishu.

Pirates who attack vessels using the shipping lanes linking Europe to Asia through the Gulf of Aden operate from several remote coastal bases including Haradheere.

One pirate in the lawless central Somali port said he was worried the bloodshed would cut the sea gangs' profits.

"We are all members of these two clans, and we are worried that this fight might end up being taken out on to the ocean," the pirate, who gave his name as Mohamed, told Reuters by satellite phone from Haradheere.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5770RY20090808?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews