Somali government forces briefly exchanged fire with radical Islamist rebels yesterday as terrified residents fled the Somali capital a day after fierce fighting left at least 31 dead.
An AFP reporter said a "brief exchange of mortar and artillery fire" in areas close to the presidential palace were heard yesterday afternoon. No details of casualties were immediately available.
Most of those killed in Friday's exchanges were civilians trapped in the crossfire or claimed by mortars in the deadliest of most days since fighting broke out a forthnight ago.
The calm in the morning saw many inhabitants packing up and leaving Mogadishu, some on donkey-drawn carts heading to camps outside the city.
"Many people are fleeing to avoid upcoming attacks, I think the government is planning a further offensive," said Somali police officer Colonel Mohamed Adan before the government fighters re-opened fire on the extremists positions.
A witness, Abdulahi Warsameh, corroborated his information, saying, "Many residents have emptied their houses in (the) Wardhigley (district) because they fear new clashes."
Government forces encountered fierce resistance as they tried unsuccessfully on Friday to drive the Islamist insurgents from the capital.
With President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed holed up in his compound with a handful of supporters and under African Union peacekeepers' protection, his embattled forces attacked insurgents in three positions they had lost in two weeks of fighting that have now killed close to 150 people.
A toll compiled by AFP from medical sources, security officials and witnesses put the number of killed on Friday alone at 29, including a young local journalist - one of the highest tolls recorded in a single day since clashes resumed on May 7.
A resident yesterday provided new information pushing up the toll. "We found the dead bodies of two civilians in the contested areas; they were caught in the crossfire," said Mubarak Hassan.
Aid agencies said as of Friday afternoon the two weeks of fighting had displaced 49,000 people.
The Somali capital has been ravaged by 18 years of almost uninterrupted civil conflict and emptied of hundreds of thousands of residents by the violent fighting that followed Ethiopia's 2006 invasion.
The Shebab and Hezb al-Islamiya fighters are the main insurgent groups trying to topple Sharif's internationally recognised transitional government.
The rebels launched a fresh round of attacks on May 7 and said they had received the support of foreign fighters.
Eritrea is accused of supporting the insurgents and of playing a role in the latest offensive aimed at helping radical Islamist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys remove his former ally Sharif from power.