38 people killed in Somali capital

At least 38 people were killed Thursday in renewed fighting in the Somali capital, medical workers and a militia commander said.

Photo: 38 people killed in Somali capital

38 people killed in Somali capital

According to reports collected from the Somali capital's main hospitals, at least 30 people were killed when rival militias intensified fighting in Mogadishu Thursday after a day's lull. Ali Mohamed Siyad, a militia leader of an Islamic militia said his group had lost eight combatants. In addition, Medina Hospital received 60 injured people and Keysaney Hospital 30.

The latest fighting comes despite a May 14 cease-fire between Islamic militias and a rival alliance of secular warlords. Witnesses say it has spread from northern Mogadishu, which had been the scene of fierce battles in recent weeks, to the southern and eastern parts of the capital.

On Wednesday, the rival militiamen renewed fighting in northern Mogadishu for a few hours during which at least six people were killed and another six seriously injured, witnesses and medical workers said.

More than 140 people, most noncombatants caught in the crossfire, were killed in eight days of fighting in Mogadishu earlier this month between Islamic militias and a rival alliance of secular warlords.

Witnesses said that Islamic militiamen had taken over a key hotel in the capital Thursday. The Sahafi Hotel is owned by a member of the rival Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counterterrorism.

The Islamic militiamen drove the warlords away from an area of southern Mogadishu, where Sahafi is located, area resident Saidia Mohamed said.

"The battle is continuing, I'm talking to you from under my bed and you can hear sounds of heavy gunfire and mortars," a panic stricken Mohamed said, speaking on her mobile phone.

Somalia has been embroiled in some of the worst fighting in more than a decade in recent weeks, reports the AP.

I.L.