Heavy fighting raged early on Friday in the centre of Mogadishu between Islamist insurgents and soldiers of the African Union’s peacekeeping force in Somalia (Amisom).
Artillery exchanges and automatic weapons fire broke out around 02:00 (23:00 GMT on Thursday) and continued through the night. After dying down a little, the violence resumed in full intensity at dawn.
The fighting was concentrated around the strategic K4 junction halfway between the Somali capital’s airport and the port.