People flee Mogadishu as fighting intensifies

Mogadishu: Hundreds of Somalis fled from Mogadishu on Thursday as fighting between hard-line Islamist insurgents and government troops entered the fourth day with both sides claiming advances.

Residents fled the carnage, some with their belongings piled high in wheelbarrows, others clutching their children, as Al Qaida-linked Al Shabaab rebels fought street by street against Africa Union-backed Somali forces.

The militants said they were behind a shooting rampage in a hotel on Tuesday that killed at least 33 people including members of parliament.

"Mujahideen fighters made new bases [in] the areas they captured from Uganda, Burundi and stooges including Dabka junction, Whelie hotel and 15 May school which is very close to the palace," Al Shabaab said on the al.kataib website.

More than 6,300 peacekeeping troops from Uganda and Burundi are in Mogadishu to prop up the UN-backed government. A police spokesman denied Al Shabaab claims that government troops were losing territory.
 
"Government forces have held their defensive positions and over the last three days al Shabaab have suffered heavy casualties. Their bodies lie in the battlefield," police spokesman Colonel Abdullahi Hassan Barise told Reuters.