Warlords and extremists fight it out in Mogadishu

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.

The fighting has escalated steadily since Sunday, when the extremists, which have alleged ties to al-Qaida, and the warlords, linked to the US, took up strategic positions in Mogadishu.