At least 22 people were killed and scores wounded when heavy fighting broke out between rival militias in the Somali capital Mogadishu this morning, militia and medical sources said. Three children were among those killed.
Mortar shelling and the exchange of heavy gunfire forced residents of the Huriwa district in the southeast of the capital to flee to other safer areas of the city, witnesses said.
Militia sources said the fighting followed a battle yesterday which pitted forces of the transitional government against militiamen of warlord Musa Sudi Yalahow in Huriwa.
That district is inhabited mainly by supporters of the Transitional National Government (TNG), which was installed last year but is not recognised by many of the warlords who have carved up the country.
Somalia has been torn by clan strife since the 1991 ousting of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and had no central government until one was set up in August last year by exiled politicians, parliamentarians and civic leaders gathered in neighbouring Djibouti.
However, most of the powerful warlords who hold sway over different parts of the country regard the TNG as just another clan faction and oppose it.
AFP