almotamar.net - MOGADISHU, Somalia (CNN) -- More Ethiopian troops arrived in Mogadishu Friday as the battle against Islamic insurgents spread into a main market area of the Somalian capital and the intensity of the fighting increased. Mortars landing in civilian areas are blamed for some of the deaths, including a civilian killed Saturday morning when his home was hit by a shell.
A human rights group estimated that at least 113 people, including soldiers and civilians, were killed in the last three days of fighting between Ethiopian troops, who are supporting Somalia's transitional government forces, and remnant fighters from the Islamic Courts Union, which was ousted from power late last year. Another 229 people have been wounded, the group said.
The death toll among the insurgent forces, who are trying to oust Ethiopian-backed interim President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, is unknown.
No one is saying which side has the upper hand in the fighting, although the level of shelling and machine gun fire has risen in the past day. The battle had spread into the main market area of Mogadishu by Saturday.
Another 40 military vehicles carrying Ethiopian soldiers arrived in the Somalian capital Friday.
Residents are fleeing Mogadishu by the thousands each day for central Somalia, and it has been a challenge for aid agencies to distribute relief supplies to displaced people.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees on Friday said one town, Afgooye, "now has an estimated 40,000 displaced Somalis who have fled Mogadishu since the beginning of February -- nearly a fifth of the 213,000 Somalis who are believed to have fled the capital."