Fighters loyal to an Islamic militia and their secular rivals manoeuvred heavily armed trucks around city streets and reinforced their positions in Somalia’s capital early today, following a battle that residents said was the most widespread fighting in 14 years.

Rival militias intensified fighting today in the Somali capital, with battles spread across Mogadishu and an unknown number of civilian casualties after a day’s lull.

A ceasefire today allowed residents to venture into the streets of a northern Mogadishu neighbourhood that has been a battleground for more than a week in Somalia.

FIGHTERS loyal to secular warlords and Islamic extremists fired artillery and mortars at each other early yesterday in Somalia’s capital as hundreds of families fled violence that has killed at least 122 people over five days.

Businessmen, clan elders and moderate religious leaders shuttled between secular warlords and Islamic extremists in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, trying to broker a ceasefire as the death toll from four days of fighting reached 96.