Clashes between Ethiopian troops and Islamist insurgents on Monday killed at least 37 people and raised the death toll to 256 from six days of fighting, a rights group said.
“Of now we have 18 civilians killed and 21 wounded. We also have 19 opposition [insurgents] dead and 21 wounded,” said Sudan Ali Ahmed, chairperson of the Elman Peace and Human Rights Organisation, which monitors casualty rates.
Mutilated bodies lay rotting in the streets under blistering sun as shooting barred residents from collecting them for burial, witnesses said.
“We have been asking both sides to stop fighting but our calls have landed on deaf ears. But we renew our appeal for the sake of innocent civilians,” Ahmed said.
The United Nations refugee agency said last week that more than 321Â 000 people had fled the seaside capital since February 1, but elders told Agence France-Presse that figure could now be closer to 400 000 with the exodus of thousands more over the past six days.
Most of them are camped under trees on the city’s outskirts without supplies or protection from reported disease outbreaks.
Prospects for a ceasefire were shattered last week when Ethiopian forces refused to meet elders from Mogadishu’s dominant Hawiye clan unless insurgent commanders also attended.
Ethiopian troops are helping the weak transitional government assert some form of control over the city, which was briefly captured by an Islamist alliance last year. — AFP