However, civilians caught in the crossfire have been the main victims. Hospitals have been overwhelmed, but most victims have been unable to seek any kind of help because of the ongoing clashes.
Doctors were also trapped in their homes by the violence and thousands of people have fled Mogadishu in recent days.
Corpses remained on the streets as ongoing fighting and mortar fire made it difficult to retrieve bodies or tally the dead. An Agence France Presse (AFP) correspondent on Sunday saw the bodies of at least six civilians lying in the street.
Residents said hundreds were believed to have been killed across the city of one million people.
AFP quoted Ibrahim Duale, a resident in the southern Ali Kamin area, as saying: "We don't know where to go. We are trapped in our houses and dead bodies are lying in the street."
"There is no chance of taking the wounded and dead people because of the heavy artillery and anti-aircraft weapons."
Clan truce
The fighting shattered a brief and shaky truce between the Ethiopians and leaders of the city's dominant clan, the Hawiye.
Security sources said African Union (AU) officials were pushing for more talks between the two sides to reinstate that ceasefire, but were facing massive mutual mistrust.
Talking to Shabelle, an independent Somali broadcaster, a Hawiye spokesman called on the United Nations, United States, European Union and Arab League to urge Ethiopia to stop attacking.
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One resident said the city was being
"shelled indiscriminately" [AFP] |
"What is happening in the city is total carnage against the civilians," he was quoted as saying on their Web site on Sunday.
While Addis Ababa seems determined to crush remaining fighters, some analysts say the offensive could have the opposite effect of turning Somalis further against their predominantly Christian neighbour, or drawing in foreign Muslim fighters.