Dozens Killed, 150 Injured in Somalia : Africa: Fighting erupts in Mogadishu as U.N. forces clash with warlord’s gunmen. At least three American servicemen are hurt. Security Council session sought.

In the worst fighting since the United Nations assumed control of Somalia from U.S. troops, up to 49 people were killed and more than 150 were injured Saturday in clashes between peacekeepers and a Somali warlord’s gunmen.

A U.N. general said there were reports of up to 26 Pakistani peacekeepers killed and 10 missing in the clashes in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, the Associated Press reported.

“The Pakistani toll is heavy. There are reports of 26 dead, but that’s tentative and not confirmed, and 10 missing and 50 injured,” Italian Gen. Bruno Loy, speaking on Italian state television, said from Mogadishu.

Mogadishu’s two main hospitals reported 23 Somalis had been killed and more than 100 wounded, according to the AP.

Three U.S. servicemen received minor injuries, the Pentagon said in a statement.

For several hours Saturday, snipers trapped about 100 Pakistani and U.S. soldiers in two areas in the capital, but they were eventually rescued by an Italian armored column.

Pakistan and Italy called for an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council, and closed-door consultations on the request were set for this morning.

The sound of machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades that echoed throughout the capital underscored the precariousness of the U.N. mission even after six months of foreign intervention.

“In a chaotic environment, this upsurge of violence is not surprising,” Mohammed Sahnoun, former U.N. special envoy to Somalia, said in an interview. “It’s a delicate transition period.

“But this is an indication that there are still some serious misunderstandings in the mandate and the mission of U.N. troops in Somalia,” he said. Sahnoun was forced to resign last year after he criticized the initial U.N. intervention for mismanagement and for its failure to end mass starvation, which eventually resulted in the U.S.-led Operation Restore Hope.

American and Pakistani troops were among those fighting Saturday against forces of Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid, the country’s most powerful warlord. Fighting erupted when U.N. forces began inspections for weapons stockpiles near Radio Mogadishu, which is under Aidid’s control.

Despite advance notification Friday of plans to search for weapons, Aidid’s enraged supporters reportedly believed the United Nations was trying to seize control of one of the few means of communication in Somalia. They streamed into the streets to protest.

Several major streets were blocked by barricades of burning tires and boulders, and foreign aid workers were warned to remain indoors. Hundreds of Somalis also stormed a downtown U.N. facility.

U.N. staff, aid workers and journalists were forced to the floor as bullets penetrated a downtown hotel, where Pakistani troops on the roof exchanged fire with Somali snipers.

Late Saturday, Aidid charged that U.N. forces, including American troops, had slaughtered many civilians, including women and children, in “provocative attacks.” Broadcasting from his radio station, he also called on the peacekeepers to withdraw from central Mogadishu, according to British Broadcasting Corp. monitors.

“It’s too early to say the U.N. mission is in trouble. And this is not the beginning of open strife,” Sahnoun said. “But it is the result of bad communication and continuing suspicion and distrust of the United Nations.

“There is now a wait-and-see attitude among the Somalis to see how the U.N. troops will behave,” he said. “The United Nations now needs to clarify its mandate to the people.”

The U.N. mission includes the right to search the warlords’ fiefdoms for heavy weapons used during the deadly civil war that, along with drought and famine, contributed to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Somalis. Weapons were supposed to be off the streets of Mogadishu and other cities and towns.

The American troops involved in the battles were part of a 1,100-strong U.S. quick-reaction force made up mainly of soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division based at Ft. Drum, N.Y. Of the 18,000 foreign troops operating under the U.N. mandate, about 4,000 are American.

Backed up by a dozen tanks and armored personnel carriers, Italian troops deployed in two areas downtown to rescue the Pakistanis and Americans, Loy said.

Operation Restore Hope troops arrived in December to prevent piracy of relief supplies intended for victims of Somalia’s famine, which killed an estimated 350,000 people last year.

U.N. troops took over the mission last month. The last round of serious trouble centered on anti-American riots in February.