More than 850,000 people in Somalia are in desperate need of food and “in crisis and emergency conditions,” the director of UN humanitarian operations said.

At least 10 Somalis, among them refugees, were killed during a firefight that broke out in Mogadishu when troops and residents looted truckloads of food meant for famine victims, two witnesses said.

The UN declared three new regions in Somalia famine zones yesterday, expanding the area where the highest rates ofmalnutrition and mortality are taking place, including the refugee camps in the capital, Mogadishu.

A new report is warning that Somalia faces its worse humanitarian crisis in 18 years.