Somali military sources said that 4 soldiers were killed, 3 of them from government forces and one from the bodyguards of the Union of Presidential Candidates.
7 others were wounded in clashes between the two sides in the capital, Mogadishu.
The clashes came after the opposition called for demonstrations against the government, while the movement was stopped in most of the capital's streets, and the security services had set up barriers in the most important intersections of the city, and the government had prevented the demonstrations from taking place under the pretext of the Coronavirus crisis.
Al-Jazeera correspondent in Mogadishu, Omar Mahmoud, said that the clashes erupted last night, and renewed on Friday morning, while the government and the opposition coalition of presidential candidates exchanged accusations regarding responsibility for these events.
For his part, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, former president and one of the leaders of the coalition of presidential candidates, said that the security forces stormed a hotel where members of the coalition were staying, and accused the government of suppressing the Somalis and preventing them from expressing their views.
On the other hand, the government said that its forces were attacked by what it described as militias that tried to attack military and government installations.
International and international concern
The United Nations expressed its grave concern about the armed clashes in the Somali capital, and said that the armed escalation in Mogadishu reflects the need for urgent negotiations between the government and the heads of federal regions to end the political differences and reach presidential and parliamentary elections.
"We call on the parties concerned to calm down and exercise restraint, and we also urge the two sides to sit at the negotiating table to end the current escalation," a brief post by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Somalia said on its Facebook account.
In a statement, the United States and some European countries ’delegations in Somalia called on all parties to calm the situation and expedite reaching an agreement on the elections on the basis of previous understandings.
Somalia is experiencing a state of political tension, following disagreements between the government on the one hand, and the regional leaders and the opposition on the other hand, over some details of the election mechanism, which has been postponed more than once, without setting a clear date for it despite several rounds of dialogue, the last of which was early this month.