MOGADISHU, Sept 8 (Reuter) Three people were killed and four
others wounded near the Somali capital Mogadishu when armed
militiamen exchanged gunfire over drugs, eyewitnesses said on Monday.

Fighting started on Sunday when militiamen manning a checkpoint refused
permission for a convoy carrying the drug khat to pass.

It is the third attack against a khat convoy in two weeks and up to eight
militiamen have died.

Khat, which acts as a stimulant when chewed, is a multimillion dollar
industry in Somalia, which has been without a central government since 1991
when dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted.