Residents found at least 17 more bodies on Saturday in Mogadishu, bringing the number of people killed to about 60 after two days of reprisal attacks by Ethiopian soldiers.
The Ethiopian military have carried out operations against insurgent strongholds after at least three dead Ethiopians were dragged through the streets after being killed in battles with rebels on Thursday.
Though there was no fighting on Saturday, Ethiopian soldiers patrolled in force throughout the capital where they and their allies in the interim Somali government are battling a persistent revolt by hardline Islamists.
The rebels were ousted from Mogadishu in late December 2006, but since then the government and Ethiopia have struggled to rein in the anarchy besetting the city. Insurgent attacks occur regularly and occasionally flare up into major bouts of fighting that have sent hundreds of thousands fleeing.
"We were trying to collect at least 17 dead bodies, but Ethiopian tanks and troops moved towards us so we ran away," said Omar Ahmed, a resident of Mogadishu's Blacksea neighbourhood.
Ethiopians struck that area and others on Thursday and Friday, and more than 43 people died in barrages of gunfire and tank shells as the battle raged. "Ethiopian troops attacked several neighbourhoods seeking their dead soldiers. Some of the dead bodies of Ethiopians were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu and this was wrong," deputy Somali police spokesman Abdullahi Ibrahim Omar said.
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