Thousands displaced as heavy fighting rages on in Mogadishu

Thousands of people have fled their homes in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, as heavy fighting between rival groups continued in the city on Thursday afternoon, witnesses and medical sources have said.

The violence has claimed the lives of at least 22 people and wounded dozens of others over the past two days.

"The fighting has been very heavy today, mainly in the southern part of the city," Mohamed Moallim Abukar-Ganey, head of the non-governmental agency, Hiraan Relief and Development Organisation, said by phone from Mogadishu.

Clashes erupted on Tuesday night between militiamen loyal to the Islamic courts and members of the newly created Alliance for Peace and the Fight Against International Terrorism, forcing people to flee from the Daynille, Galgalato, Yaqshid and Karan neighbourhoods of the city.

Most of those affected fled to areas around Lafoole and Afgoy, some 20 km outside Mogadishu, on foot, because public transport services had stopped. Women carried children and belongings on their backs as they left the city, where militias were trading artillery, machine gun and small arm fire. The fighting also trapped many residents in their homes.

"Many of the dead are civilians," he added. "Thousands of other people have left their homes and are going to safer areas."

The clashes started in the northern Sii Sii area of Yaqshid District and intensified on Thursday morning in Taleeh District near the Mogadishu stadium, also known as 'Taraabunka'. It spread to Daynille and Galgalato later.

Fighting between militia loyal to Nur Daqle of the anti-terror coalition and those led by Shaykh Sharif Shaykh Ahmed, the chairman of the Islamic courts, first broke out in Mogadishu on 7 May and continued for a week, killing almost 200 people.