Te bodies of 10 people have been found in a mosque in the Somali capital, after two days of clashes between Ethiopian troops and fighters.

Local residents blame the killings on the Ethiopians, who are backing the government against Islamist fighters.

Six of the dead are religious leaders from the Tabliq Sufi sect, which is not involved in the conflict.

Some 70 people were killed over the weekend, local residents say. Sporadic shooting can still be heard.

Aden Haji Yusuf, 60, was one of the local elders helped to bury the dead on Monday.

"We are now out, for the first time in two days, to discover the dead bodies of some neighbors and bury them," he said.

Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein says the government was defending itself during the weekend clashes.

But locals accused the Ethiopians of shelling the residential areas of Hurwa and Yaqshid in north-eastern Mogadishu, after they came under attack.

Among those killed was a seven-year-old girl, while a local resident said he had seen the bodies of two Ethiopians and one government soldier.

"The government is sorry about the fighting and loss of innocent civilian lives," Somalia's prime minister said on Sunday.

"Our aim is to restore law and order through reconciliation and peaceful means, but that does not mean our troops and those of our ally Ethiopia will not defend themselves as they come under constant attack."

The UN says that more than half of Mogadishu's population has fled recent fighting in the city.

The Ethiopians intervened in 2006 to help government forces oust Islamists who had taken control of much of southern Somalia.

The country has not had an effective national government since 1991.

PHOTO CAPTION 

Ethiopian soldiers on patrol in Mogadishu.

BBC