Fighting rages in Somali capital as bodies rot in streets

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Heavy shelling and tank fire rocked Mogadishu Monday, the sixth straight day of raging battles in the capital that have plunged the country deeper into chaos and left more than 200 people dead.

Masked Islamic insurgents clashed with Ethiopian troops backing the fragile Somali government's forces in the southern part of the battle-scarred coastal city, pounding each other with machine-gun fire, mortars, tank shells and heavy artillery.

At least four people were killed in Monday's fighting, said Khadija Farah, who saw a shell hit a residential area north of the city and kill three men and a women. Farah added a six-month-old baby was wounded.

The United Nations said the fighting had sparked the worst humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged country's recent history, with many of the city's residents trapped because roads out of Mogadishu were blocked.

Rotting bodies have been left on the streets for days, witnesses said, as it is too dangerous to try to retrieve them. At least six people were wounded early Monday, said Medina Hospital director Dahir Dhere, but he expected fatalities.

Halime Ibrahim, who fled from south of the city, which saw the worst fighting for more than 15 years, said she had seen 11 bodies. "I even failed to recognize if they were men or women," she told The Associated Press.

"Masked Somali fighters who dug in near my house are in an intensive fight with Ethiopian and Somali troops since early morning," said Hassan Mohamed Ali lives in Tawfiq neighborhood and opted to remain behind to look after his family's house. From time to time, Ali was checking the fighting from his window.

The latest fighting flared after Ethiopian and Somali government troops made a final military push to try to wipe out the insurgency, Western diplomatic and Somali government sources told the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The government and its Ethiopian backers were facing international pressure over the mounting death toll and appeared determined to bring order before a planned national reconciliation conference.

Ethiopian troops opened fire with tank shells and artillery from the presidential palace early Monday at insurgent positions in the south, said resident Osman Ali Yusuf who said one of the shells hit near his house. Yusuf, who monitors the fighting from his rooftop, said he had seen two tanks stationed at the strategic Tawfiq junction that divides the south from the north of Mogadishu where the two sides are facing off.

Ethiopians are in the north. The insurgency they are trying to end and which emerged after the defeat of the Council of Islamic Courts is operating from the south of the city of 2 million people. Clan and warlord militia have also joined the fight against the Ethiopians and government forces.

A bid earlier this month to wipe out the insurgency left more than 1,000 people dead, many of them civilians. More than 320,000 people have fled the fighting.

Elman Human Rights Organization that records casualties in the capital, said six insurgents and 41 civilians died on Sunday alone. They did not have any casualty figures for either Ethiopian or Somali government soldiers.

"The killing of civilians like this is a crime against humanity," said Sudan Ali Ahmed, the chairman of the group. "We urge the international community to send a team to investigate these crimes. They are war crimes."

The new tallies bring the death toll in five days of fighting in Mogadishu to at least 212, with more than 291 wounded, according to the human rights group.

A Somali government official warned on Sunday that his government planned a major offensive against the insurgents soon and wanted residents of the capital to move from insurgent strongholds.

"People in Mogadishu should vacate their homes that are located near the strongholds of terrorists, and we will crack down on insurgents and terrorists very soon," said Deputy Defense Minister Salad Ali Jelle.

In a separate development that could increase tension in the Horn of

Africa, Eritrea suspended its membership in a regional body that mediated the Somali conflict Saturday.

The region is already tense because of the unresolved border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia that has seen the two countries go to war in the past. In recent months, the Somalia conflict has also been seen as a proxy war between the two, with each backing rival sides.

U.S. officials have named Eritrea as a supporter the months-old insurgency in Mogadishu, something Eritrea has denied.

Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another, throwing the country into anarchy.

The transitional government was formed in 2004 with U.N. help, but has struggled to extend its control over the country.