Fighting rages in Somali capital 'as bodies rot in streets'

Heavy shelling and tank fire rocked Mogadishu today, the sixth day of raging battles in Somalia’s capital that have plunged the country deeper into chaos and left more than 200 people dead.

Masked Islamic insurgents clashed with Ethiopian troops backing the fragile Somali government’s forces in the southern part of the battle-scarred coastal city, pounding each other with machine-gun fire, mortars, tank shells and heavy artillery.