Clashes between Somali soldiers and local militia has left 15 people killed and 30 others injured in a southern region of the conflict-torn country.

The fighting broke out on Wednesday between the Hizbul-Islam fighters and the government soldiers in Balet-weyne, the provincial capital of the Hiiran region, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The shootouts, which almost take place on daily basis, have prompted mass departures by the locals and have left more than one million Somalis displaced.

The gunmen had earlier agreed to unite with their rival militiamen al-Shabaab in their fight against the government. Al-Shabaab fighters lead a relatively fiercer armed campaign against Mogadishu.

However, the two sides regularly fall out, adding to the widespread violence that the country has been grappling with for almost 18 years.

HN/MMN