Residents say five people have been killed in fighting between rival Islamist factions over control of a Somali port city, AP reported.
Kismayo resident Aden Jibril says fighting between the al-Shabab militia and members of the Islamic Party broke out early Thursday morning.
The city is around 310 miles (500 kilometers) south of the capital of Mogadishu. Kismayo's taxes from shipping provides a major revenue stream to the insurgency.
The quarrel will be welcome news to the embattled U.N.-backed government under attack from the insurgents. The administration is only hanging onto a couple of blocks of Mogadishu with the assistance of around 5,000 African Union peacekeepers.
But fighting could easily spread to other areas under their control in southern Somalia.