MOGADISHU, Somalia - At least 80 Somalis have been killed in heavy fighting in Mogadishu within the past 48 hours, witnesses and doctors said on Saturday, as residents continued to flee the beleaguered Somali capital.A day after heavy shelling and gunfire claimed over 50 lives, residents said new bodies were discovered on Saturday morning in southern Mogadishu, where Ethiopian troops backing the shaky Somali government have been fighting Islamic insurgents for two days. The fighting is some of the heaviest the war-ravaged city has seen since April. Hospitals are overflowing with patients and doctors say they lack medicine, beds and space for the wounded. “The patients are overwhelming us,” said Dr. Dahir Dhere, the head of the Medina Hospital.
Those wounded during the fighting were admitted at the city’s three main medical centers, doctors and staff in Medina, Keysaney and Deynile hospitals told the Associated Press by telephone. “The death toll continues to mount and more than 250 people _ mainly civilians _ who were wounded in the fighting and the subsequent shelling are being treated at the hospitals,” said Dr. Hassan Gutale.