Somalia

....An Associated Press photographer saw six corpses ?- all either Somali soldiers or their Ethiopian allies ?- burned and mutilated while masked men shouted "God is great!" Women wearing head scarves and flowing dresses pounded one of the corpses with rocks as a handful of young men looked on, cheering....

....A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the ongoing operation, said Wednesday's offensive was focused on parts of the capital controlled by the Habr Gedir clan, which was a major supporter of the more radical elements of the Islamic courts and remains opposed to the government.... LINK

"We barely slept last night. The sky was lit up by shelling all night," Faisal Jamah told Reuters news agency.

"There are a lot of wounded, but there is no way to take them to the hospitals due to the fighting on the roads."

The BBC's Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says hospitals in the city are overwhelmed with the wounded from Thursday's battles and dead bodies were scattered in the streets.

An ICRC spokesman said staff at Medina and Keysaney hospitals were working hard to treat the number of casualties

"Just to give a figure, since 1 January these two hospitals received 1,000 weapon-wounded which is extremely high," Pedram Yazdi told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.

Praising his colleague hours before his own death, Ali Iman Sharmake said: "Elmi was a symbol of neutrality."

Colleagues said Elmi was shot dead by two gunmen close to the radio station on his way to work.


The killing was meant to prevent a real voice that described the suffering in Mogadishu to other Somalis and to the world, Elmi was a symbol of neutrality
Ali Iman Sharmake, shortly before he was killed

Sharmake was hit by what appeared to be a remote-controlled landmine on his way home from Elmi's funeral.