Supporters of Somali former militant clash with police in Baidoa, 11 dead

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - At least 11 Somalis were killed in the southern city of Baidoa on Thursday and early Friday in clashes between police and supporters of a former al Shabaab leader seeking election as a regional president, a military officer and an elder said.

The central government's Internal Security Ministry in Mogadishu said on Thursday that its forces had arrested Mukhtar Robow on the suspicion that he had brought militants and weapons back to Baidoa, the capital of South West region where he is running for president.

"Yesterday, 10 people died and today they killed a lawmaker," Saleh Isak, a Baidoa eldeer told Reuters by telephone.

(Reporting by Feisal Omar and Abdi Sheikh; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)