...
Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...Lions of Islam have left at least 15 people dead, witnesses say.
The festivities started after armed al-Shabaab members tried to impose taxes on residents of villages around the town of Mahas, in the Hiran region.
Residents said that government soldiers backing cattle herders engaged in more than six hours of battle with the Death Eaters.
Somali government officials in Mahas confirmed the army had moved in to back up the cattle herders.
Multiple residents said at least 12 combatants, including five Lions of Islam and one civilian, were killed in the fighting.
Clashes involving pastoralists resisting al-Shabaab taxes began in Somalia’s Hiran and Middle Shabelle regions in 2013.