[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Heavy fighting... as opposed to the more usual light or sporadic fighting...
between troops and beturbanned fascisti gripped Somalia's capital for a third day Wednesday, with 10 civilians banged a day after bad turbans mowed down 33 people in a raid on a hotel.
Al-Qaeda-inspired Shaboobs used heavy machinegun fire against government troops backed by African Union forces to try to seize a key route in Mogadishu linking the presidential palace and the airport.
"We have advanced into the enemy lines and our forces have almost cut off the use of Maka Al-Mukarama road on which the enemy transports supplies," said Sheik Abdiaziz Abu-Muscab, Shabaab's military front man.
Maka Al-Mukarama is one of the few roads controlled by the hapless Somali government which otherwise holds only a small patch of southern Mogadishu.
The government said it had repelled the Shabaab.
"Our forces are still in control although the Al-Qaeda gun-hung tough guys tried to penetrate some of our positions this morning, we defeated them...," said Somali government security official Abdi Ali.
His side lost three soldiers, he said.
The head of Mogadishu ambulance service Ali Muse said four non-combatants were killed in the fighting on top of six reported dead early in the day.
At least 72 civilians have been killed since Monday when the Shabaab launched an onslaught on the Western-backed government in the latest bid to overthrow the administration and drive out its African Union supporters.
In a brazen attack on Tuesday, two Shabaab attackers raided a Mogadishu hotel, spraying bullets at the occupants and killing 33, among them four lawmakers, before blowing themselves up.
Some 6,000 Ugandan and Burundian AU troops are the last barrier between the hardline group and the embattled government of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
A senior Shabaab official called on Somalis Wednesday to contribute weapons and money to support their fighting.
"We have 500 volunteers who came today to join the jihad to sacrifice their lives for the sake of Allah and they need your help to carry out their holy plan," Ali Mohamed Hussein told reporters in Mogadishu.
Earlier the group's military front man Abu-Muscab said they had seized the government's last positions.
"Thanks to Allah, we have killed many soldiers and the mujahedeen fighters are now in full control of their last strongholds," he said.
But AU mission front man Major Ba-Hoku Barigye rejected the claim.
"We are still in our positions and neither government forces nor the African peacekeepers lost their positions.
"We will stand firm and protect the right side, there is no cause for alarm as the situation is under control," Barigye said.
The president was joined by world leaders in condemning Tuesday's attack on the hotel, which came during the Mohammedan holy month of Ramadan.