Mortar rounds crashed into central Mogadishu on Sunday in a fourth day of battles between Islamist insurgents and allied Ethiopian and Somali government troops that have killed scores of civilians.
Locals living near the main soccer stadium said bombs fired from the south of the capital started striking around 9.30am (6.30am GMT), spreading panic as fighting resumed.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says the clashes are Mogadishu’s worst for more than 15 years.
”We are now being shelled heavily,” said one resident of Tawfiq neighbourhood who asked not to be named. ”The mortars are being fired from south Mogadishu. People are very scared.”
The Horn of Africa country has been beset by violence since the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
On Thursday Ethiopian troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships launched the assault to crush remnants of a hardline Islamist movement and clan militia fighting alongside them.
But civilians have been the main victims. Hospitals have been overwhelmed, even though most of the wounded have been unable to seek any kind of help because of the ongoing battles.
Doctors were also trapped in their homes by the violence.
Ethiopia says its military has killed more than 200 ”armed remnants” of an Islamic sharia courts group that was ousted from Mogadishu in a war over the New Year.
‘Total carnage’
As the fighting intensified on Friday, insurgents shot down an Ethiopian helicopter gunship with a missile. Some dead Ethiopian soldiers were dragged through the streets by mobs.
Thousands of people have fled Mogadishu in recent days.
The fighting shattered a brief and shaky truce between the Ethiopians and leaders of the city’s dominant clan, the Hawiye.
Security sources said African Union (AU) officials were pushing for more talks between the two sides to reinstate that ceasefire, but were facing massive mutual mistrust.
Talking to independent Somali broadcaster Shabelle, a Hawiye spokesperson called on the United Nations, United States, European Union and Arab League to urge Ethiopia to stop attacking.
”What is happening in the city is total carnage against the civilians,” he was quoted as saying on their website on Sunday.
While Addis Ababa seems determined to finish off the insurgents, many experts say the offensive could have the opposite effect of turning Somalis further against their Christian-led neighbour, or drawing in foreign Muslim jihadists.
Despite the fighting, Somalia’s interim government remains confident a reconciliation meeting of elders, politicians and former warlords planned for April 16 will go ahead in the city.
The mandate for the administration, which is the 14th attempt to restore central rule in Somalia since 1991, runs out in 2009, after which, in theory, there should be elections.
The AU has sent 1 200 Ugandan troops to help the government, but they have been attacked by the insurgents. Other African nations are baulking at sending more peacekeepers to boost the AU force to its planned strength of 8 000. – Reuters