Civilians die in Mogadishu fighting

April 20, 2007

Residents of Mogadishu described the fighting as bad as the four-day war which killed 1,000 people at the end of March. Parts of the Somali capital are reported to be under heavy shell-fire as clashes between Islamist insurgents and Ethiopian-backed Somali forces intensifies. The United Nations is warning of a humanitarian catastrophe in the Horn of Africa, where more than 200,000 have fled their homes in Mogadishu.