The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Mogadishu

Corpses lay on the streets of Mogadishu on Monday after at least 81 people were killed in battles over the weekend between Islamist-led insurgents and Ethiopian troops supporting Somalia's interim government.

Northern districts of the coastal capital suffered the worst of the most intense fighting for months, with both sides exchanging barrages of mortar rounds and heavy machinegun fire. The city was quiet early on Monday.

"This morning as I was trying to escape the fighting which I feared might restart, I saw four dead men I knew lying in the neighborhood," resident Hussein Abdulle said by telephone.

Another resident, Abdulahi Mohamud, told Reuters that at least 20 people-mostly women and children-were trapped in a mosque where Ethiopian tank crews had dug deep defensive trenches.