Islamic militia and gunmen loyal to US-backed warlords swarmed the streets of Mogadishu in a battle which left at least 130 dead, mostly passers-by.

The heavily armed reinforcements arrived in pickup trucks mounted with heavy machine guns.

Fighters from both sides closed in on each other following a night of artillery exchanges that sent thousands of civilians fleeing the Sii-Sii neighbourhood of northern Mogadishu.

Residents in the Somalia capital described it as the worst fighting in more than a decade of lawlessness. Thousands of families were fleeing the capital.

While tending to his wife in the hospital, Mohamud Jama said his three children were killed when three mortar rounds struck his house.
ww9.sbs.com

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