20100403
PRESS TV

At least 25 civilians have been killed during heavy clashes between government forces and local fighters, witnesses and medical sources say.

The fighting erupted on Friday evening in four northern Mogadishu districts considered as a strongholds used by the fighters. The clashes then spread to the southern areas of the city, mainly controlled by the UN-backed government, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Ali Muse, the head of the Mogadishu Ambulance Services, said late Friday that they collected at least 17 bodies from different areas. On Saturday, eight more bodies were found inside and outside Mogadishu's Bakara Market, he said.

Colonel Ibrahim Kalmoy, a spokesman for the Somali military, blamed the fighting on "rebel groups," which he said had attacked government positions.

Al-Shabab fighters claimed responsibility for the attacks against the government forces.

The war-battered Mogadishu has been the scene of deadly civil strife since the collapse of the country's central government in 1991.