Yesterday… The Islamic militants in Iraq were blowing up children in cars, today in Somalia their dragging dead soldiers through the streets and then torching their bodies.
Reports indicate that up to 34 people were killed during the fighting in Mogadishu. 
Somali women throw stones at the smoldering body of a Somali government soldier in Mogadishu, 21 Mar 2007. (VOA)
Masked Islamists dragged the bodies of two soldiers through the streets of Mogadishu today and later set them on fire:
Masked men believed to be Islamic militants dragged the corpses of two soldiers through the streets of the Somali capital and set their bodies on fire Wednesday during fierce battles with government forces trying to consolidate their control of Mogadishu.
Medical officials at Mogadishu’s three hospitals said they had recorded at least seven dead and 36 wounded by early afternoon in some of the heaviest fighting in Mogadishu since the Islamic forces were driven out in December. Dahir Mohamed Mohamud Dhere of Medina Hospital said doctors there were treating 36 wounded government soldiers.
An Associated Press photographer saw insurgents drag the bodies of one Ethiopian soldier and one Somali government soldier through southern Mogadishu and set them on fire.
The men dragging the corpses wore blue and white scarves to mask their faces, something characteristic of Mogadishu’s insurgents, who normally carry out their attacks with their faces masked.
Women pounded one of the burning bodies with stones as a handful of young men watched.
Residents of Mogadishu gather around the body of a Somali soldier who was killed during heavy fighting in Somalia’s capital. The fighting lead to the death of at least 14 people in an escalation of violence which also saw angry residents attacking the bodies of dead soldiers.(AFP/Mustafa Abdi)
Ethiopian troops confronted the militants in their Shirkole stronghold:
“Ethiopian tanks rolled out of the former defense ministry and moved into nearby Shirkole area, which is seen as the stronghold of the insurgent groups and they met with stiff resistance,” he said. Other witnesses said minibuses filled with insurgents were racing through the city to reach Shirkole and defend against the Ethiopian advance.
Muqtar Abdulahi Dahir, a Mogadishu businessman, said he saw the same minibuses carrying away the wounded.
“I also saw insurgents evacuating some of their men with minibuses, but I am not sure whether they were dead or not,” he said.
An estimated 60 percent of those killed and injured were women and children.
