Islamic militias and secular warlords resumed fighting for control of the Somali capital on Wednesday, killing at least 13 people and wounding 11 after a five-day lull, witnesses and medical workers said.The fundamentalist Islamic militia expanded its control over parts of Mogadishu in the battle that began shortly after morning prayers, capturing a base on a key road linking the city with Somalia's central region, said Jamal Ali, who owns a garage in the northeastern neighborhood where the fighting was taking place. The radical fighters also seized at least five prized trucks mounted with heavy weapons from their rivals.
Dr. Sheikhdon Salad Elmi, director of Medina Hospital, said at least three bodies were taken to his hospital and two others were at the Keysaney Hospital. Ali told The Associated Press that at least eight other bodies, mostly civilians, could been seen in the battle zone.
Fighting stopped later Wednesday as both sides strengthened their positions, enabling hundreds of people to flee their homes.
A warlord controlling Somalia's southern Middle Shabelle region, Mohamed Dheere, also sent trucks mounted with heavy weapons and armed militiamen to back up forces battling the Islamic fundamentalists, Radio Banadir reported.