Mogadishu, 17 June-(ANA)-Mogadishu's police chief has been killed as government forces attacked insurgent bases in the Somali capital.
Witnesses saw the bodies of at least eight people, mainly civilians, in the latest battle to convulse the city.
"This is the strongest fighting we've seen in recent months," one resident, Asha Mo'alim, told the BBC. "We're ducking in our rooms."
Pro-government forces have been locked in fierce battles with radical Islamist guerrillas in the city since 7 May.
In Wednesday's fighting, civilians could be seen running across the streets and sheltering by walls as heavy gunfire shook the Hodan area in south Mogadishu. (ANA)