Violence in Somalia’s war-ravaged capital has killed 5,960 civilians this year, the country’s oldest human rights group said today.

Explosions and gunfire in the Somali capital killed 13 people and wounded nine others over the weekend, the latest upsurge of violence in a city already wracked by near-daily explosions, police and witnesses said.

The mayor of Mogadishu escaped an assassination attempt today when a bomb exploded near his convoy, the latest in a series of attempts to kill Somali government officials as they struggle to contain an insurgency.

An Islamic militia with alleged al-Qaida links has seized Somalia’s capital Mogadishu after weeks of bloody fighting with US-backed secular warlords, raising fears that the nation could fall under the sway of Osama bin Laden’s terrorist organisation.