MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Hundreds fled Somalia’s capital Monday in vehicles stacked with mattresses and belongings after at least 35 were killed over the weekend in some of the worst fighting in weeks in one of the world’s most violent cities.

Meanwhile, members of an extremist Islamic group were seen heading toward the capital, possibly to reinforce their allies who have been fighting pro-government militias there.

An Associated Press reporter saw residents fleeing Mogadishu in taxis, pickups and trucks stacked with suitcases, furniture and other belongings. Residents in northern Mogadishu reported sporadic fighting but there were no immediate reports of casualties Monday.

“Some of them do not know where to go. They need urgent help,” said Ali Fadhaa, the vice chairman of the Elman Human Rights Organization.

The renewed violence in the Horn of Africa nation is pitting pro-government fighters against those allied to al-Shabab, an insurgent group seeking to overthrow Somalia’s Western-backed government and establish an Islamic state. Over the weekend, both sides pounded the capital with mortars and machine-gunfire.

The insurgents have been trying to topple the weak government since late 2006 and the lawlessness also has allowed piracy to explode off Somalia’s coast.

The U.S. also worries that Somalia could be a terrorist breeding ground, particularly since Osama bin Laden declared his support for al-Shabab. The U.S. also accuses al-Shabab of harboring the al-Qaida-linked terrorists who allegedly blew up the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

Ali Osman, who runs a small kiosk along a road leading from key southern Somali towns to Mogadishu, said he saw masked fighters heading to the capital. Some had wrapped a black flag around their heads with the Arabic inscription “There is only one God, Allah” — which he said was a sign they are al-Shabab fighters.

Al-Shabab controls much of southern Somalia. President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed’s government directly controls only a few blocks of Mogadishu and one border town. But the president has allies among the militias that control much of central Somalia and pockets of the south.

Ahmed, elected by parliament in January, used to be one of the leaders of the Islamic insurgency. Since his election he has been trying to broker peace with warring groups and gain legitimacy. At a conference last month in Brussels, Ahmed pledged to do “everything imaginable” to stabilize Somalia.

Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991, when warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. The warlords then turned on each other, plunging the nation into anarchy and chaos. Somalia’s transitional government was formed in 2004, but has failed to assert any control over the country.

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