Mogadishu residents buried their dead and ventured onto the streets for the first time in five days on Monday during a lull in battles pitting Ethiopian and Somali troops against Islamist and clan fighters. Although one landmine exploded in south Mogadishu as a government convoy passed, the coastal capital was generally quieter after four days of ferocious fighting that residents say have killed several hundred. For the first time in four days the sound of heavy shelling could not be heard throughout the city early Monday morning. "Last night was the first night I have slept since the war started," a clan militia fighter, who asked not to be named, said. "People see this as a chance to collect their belongings and get out." Some 47,000 Somali civilians have fled Mogadishu in the last 10 days, the United Nations said on Monday. The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR added that 96,000 people had left Mogadishu in February and March. Witnesses have seen long queues of people pouring out of the capital, some on foot, others piling possessions onto donkeys, trunks and cars.
While the generalised shelling and gunfire seen across the city in recent days had stopped on Monday, a single blast followed by some gunfire rocked the Kilometer Four area of south Mogadishu around 8 a.m. (05:00 GMT), a witness said. Military sources later said a landmine had gone off as a convoy including the government's chief of military staff was driving past. But there were no injuries, and it was unclear if it was a targeted attack or a mine left from previous days.