Civilians flee Mogadishu as Somali troops and opposition-allied militias trade fire

Key points

• Fierce clashes have taken place between government troops and militias allied with the opposition in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, damaging property and forcing some civilians to flee.
• In the runup to the fighting, which started on Wednesday afternoon, opposition leaders embedded with militias set up positions in their clan strongholds the city.
• Maka al-Mukarama road, the city’s main thoroughfare, turned into a battlefield, and by sunset mortar rounds were landing in densely populated civilian neighbourhoods and Bakara market, Somalia’s largest business centre.
• Footage on social media showed plumes of smoke rising above the city’s skyline.
• The president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, plunged Somalia into a fresh political crisis in mid-May after announcing a one-year extension of his term, which had been due to expire on 15 May.