WORLD BRIEFING / SOMALIA
Thousands fled their homes in Mogadishu after at least 35 people were killed over the weekend in some of the worst fighting in weeks, while masked Islamic fighters were seen heading to the Somali capital.
Residents in northern Mogadishu reported sporadic fighting but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
“Some of them do not know where to go. They need urgent help,” said Ali Sheik Yasin Fadhaa, vice chairman of the Elman Human Rights Organization. A total of 17,200 people have fled the capital since Saturday, Fadhaa said.
The renewed violence in the Horn of Africa nation pits pro-government fighters against those allied to Al Shabab, an insurgent group seeking to overthrow Somalia’s Western-backed government and establish an Islamic state.
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