Terrified Mogadishu residents locked themselves in their homes as sporadic gunshots echoed over the tense and shattered capital on Friday in the wake of the worst militia violence in more than a decade.
Some shops closed and Mogadishu's bullet-scarred streets remained empty after at least 50 people were killed in an intense artillery duel between Islamist militia and gunmen for warlords who say they have joined forces to fight terrorism.
Residents said the Islamists appeared to have taken control of more territory, as they have in each of earlier three rounds of fighting since February. At least 300 people, mostly civilians, have died.
This week's fighting, in which mortars, grenades and anti-aircraft guns were fired, erupted late on Tuesday and intensified until Thursday as it spread across the capital, sending scores of people fleeing. At least 120 people were wounded, hospitals said. Chaos in Mogadishu made it difficult to verify whether more people had been killed overnight.
Witnesses said a few more people, carrying basic possessions, tried to leave on Friday as fighting subsided. Gunshots could be heard but not heavy artillery.
"Mogadishu has been turned into a battleground. So many people have been killed by stray bullets, mortar and other missiles thrown by the fighters," Farhan Gure, resident of Kilometre Four area, told Reuters by phone. The Islamist militia routed the warlords' gunmen from the that critical junction of the city on Thursday while seizing the Sahafi hotel in the area, owned by a warlord.
It was another territorial victory for the Islamists, linked to influential Sharia courts in the city.
"The Islamic Court militia have taken the upper hand since yesterday in the fighting in Kilometre Four and its surrounding areas. They are also in control in the north," Gure said.
"The warlord alliance have been pushed away from the city centre but people fear more clashes."
Neither side was immediately reachable for comment.
Some diplomats and analysts view the violence - laced with commercial and political interests - as a proxy war between Washington and Islamic militants.
Africa Confidential, an influential London-based newsletter, on Friday reported the US Central Intelligence Agency had flown several hundred thousand dollars into Isaley airstrip in January and February to fund the warlord alliance.
The CIA also handed over a list of al Qaeda suspects it believed to be in Mogadishu, the newsletter said.
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