At least 18 dead in battle over disputed Somali port city

At least 18 people have been killed in gunbattles in southern Somalia's Kismayu, residents said on Saturday, in the heaviest fighting the disputed port city has seen in more than four years.

The clashes, the first since several former warlords staked rival claims on the lucrative port and fertile hinterlands in May, has stoked fears among locals of a return to the clan wars that tipped the country into anarchy two decades ago.