The tenuous truce between two of the rebel groups controlling northern Mali was shattered on Wednesday, as the rebel faction bent on creating an Islamic state fought its way into the buildings used by a secular rebel group. The latter was forced to beat a retreat and one of their leaders was airlifted abroad after being shot in the leg.

Resident Hamadada Toure said that he had cowered inside his home during the morning, when the clash started after fighters belonging to the Islamic faction, known as MUJAO, parked a car loaded with weapons 50 yards (meters) from the headquarters of the secular rebel group, the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad.

The two are among the armed groups that seized control of the northern half of Mali, an area the size of France, earlier this year. They fell out earlier this month because MUJAO and another Islamic faction want to impose Shariah law in northern Mali, while the NMLA wants to create a secular country. Last week an unwed couple in Gao was publicly lashed.