Mogadishu residents carried wounded Somalis on wheelbarrows as bullets flew over the battered capital this afternoon in a new flare-up of violence between rival militias that killed up to 30 people.
Mogadishu resident
Firing mortars, grenades and anti-aircraft guns, militia linked to Islamic courts squared off with gunmen for a self-styled anti-terrorism coalition of warlords, in a resumption of the worst violence in Mogadishu for a decade.
Scores fled the fighting, which erupted yesterday and intensified today morning as it spread across Mogadishu. The streets were full of terrified old people and children, witnesses said.
"There are so many people dead, I saw nearly 30 dead and over 40 wounded," resident Abdifatah Abdikadir told Reuters by telephone from the Kilometre Four area in southern Mogadishu.
"People are being carried on wheelbarrows to the hospital with broken limbs and gunshot wounds. It's going from bad to worse."
The battle for control of Mogadishu has been going on since February, and this fourth round ended a ceasefire of nearly a week, brokered by clan elders.
So far at least 270 people have been killed, most of them civilians, in fighting that was largely confined to the north of the coastal capital, but has since spread south.
"We brought my child to the Hanana medical clinic this morning, two minutes later the horrible shootings began, and our lives were in danger," Halima Jama, a mother of three, said.
Both sides confirmed the fighting, of which the bulk was in Kilometre 4.
"The fighting is very heavy. They are hitting each other with mortars, anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tanks," coalition member Ibrahim Maalim said.
"I have never seen such a heavy exchange. Mogadishu is blazing with fire," he said, as heavy artillery and gunshots reverberated over the telephone.
"There are bodies lying everywhere. I cannot count them and there are wounded people lying on the streets crying for help."