By Mohamed Ahmed
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's government resumed shelling Islamist insurgent strongholds in the capital on Saturday after a lull in its two-day-old offensive gave some residents a chance to flee.
Heavy fighting in Mogadishu on Friday killed at least 45 people. A local human rights group said more families left during Saturday's pause, joining 49,000 others who have fled the city during an upsurge of violence over the past two weeks.
Residents said mortar shells hit the sprawling Bakara Market, the main al Shabaab rebel stronghold in the city, and fighters clashed nearby. There were no details of casualties.
"Large numbers of families started fleeing today from new districts and this will deepen the already worsening humanitarian situation," Ali Yasin Gedi, vice-chairman of Elman Peace and Human Rights Organisation, told Reuters.
Neighbouring states and Western governments fear Somalia, mired in civil war for 18 years, could become a haven for militants linked to al Qaeda unless the new government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed can defeat them.
"We shall continue the military operation against these anti-peace groups until Somalis get a long, lasting peace. We fought them and made progress in the latest operation," Information Minister Farhan Ali Mohamud told reporters.
Since the start of 2007, fighting has killed at least 17,700 civilians and driven more than 1 million from their homes. About 3 million Somalis survive on emergency food aid.
More than half of those killed on Friday were civilians and at least 182 people were wounded in the fierce clashes after pro-government forces launched a pre-dawn offensive.
SANCTIONS, NO-FLY ZONE
Islamist insurgents took up arms in 2007 to drive out Ethiopian troops propping up a Western-backed government which failed to wield control over much of the Horn of Africa nation.
The Ethiopians withdrew at the start of 2009 and an Islamist president was elected in neighbouring Djibouti in January. However, the insurgents have intensified attacks against the new administration and African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu.
The hardline Al Shabaab, which Washington says has close ties to al Qaeda, and Islamist guerrilla group Hizbul Islam have been spearheading attacks on the capital and central Somalia.
Somalia's government has accused Eritrea of supporting al Shabaab fighters with planeloads of weapons including AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
The African Union (AU) stepped up pressure on Eritrea on Friday by calling for U.N. sanctions, a no fly-zone and a sea blockade of Somalia to stem the flow of weapons.
"(The United Nations Security Council should) impose sanctions against all those foreign actors, both within and outside the region, especially Eritrea, providing support to the armed groups," the 53-member AU said in a statement.
Eritrea's president denies the allegation, saying U.S. agents are spreading lies to blacken his government's name.
Until Friday, pro-government forces had not looked strong enough to break al Shabaab's grip on parts of Mogadishu.
Last week's defection of a veteran warlord with hundreds of fighters may have prompted Ahmed to order the new offensive.
Experts say pro-government forces will be hard-pushed to extend their reach to distant provinces, increasing the risk of protracted fighting in a country that has known little but violence and anarchy since its dictator was ousted in 1991.
An important figure in any reconciliation would be hardline opposition leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who ran Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia alongside Ahmed in late 2006.
The two Islamists -- Aweys was always considered the more hardline -- split after Ahmed joined the peace process.
"Somalia has no government we recognise," Aweys told Reuters in an interview on Friday. "We should not be deceived by Westerners like Sharif."
"We shall defeat the government soon, God willing."
(Additional reporting by Barry Malone in Addis Ababa; Writing by David Clarke; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
