Mogadishu_(dpa) _ Battles between pro-government forces and Islamist insurgents pushing to topple Somalia’s fragile transitional government continued for an eighth day Thursday, in Mogadishu streets abandoned by terrified civilians.

Witnesses told Radio Shabelle that at least three people had been killed and seven wounded in north Mogadishu as insurgents and government forces exchanged fire.

The insurgents also laid siege to the presidential palace, firing shells at the building.

A local human rights group estimates over 120 people have been killed and hundreds more injured in the eight days of fighting, which has forced almost 30,000 people to flee their homes.

Civilians continued to leave Mogadishu Thursday.

The insurgents are pushing to end the short reign of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who they say is too close to the West.

Sheikh Sharif, who worked alongside many of the insurgents when his Islamic Courts Union (ICU) briefly ruled Somalia in 2006, came to power earlier this year as part of a Western-backed peace process.

The United Nations has condemned the push and said it is a desperate measure aimed at derailing Sheikh Sharif’s attempts to build bridges and bring peace to Somalia.

“This latest surge in violence is clearly a response to the government’s strategy to reach out and build a critical mass in support of peace,” B Lynn Pascoe, the UN under secretary general for political affairs told the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

Pascoe called for international support to help Sheikh Sharif.

An African Union peacekeeping force of around 4,000 troops is backing the government in Somalia, but the UN has refused to commit to sending in a force of its own.

The insurgency has claimed the lives of around 16,000 people, mainly civilians, since early 2007, kicking off after Ethiopian troops invaded to oust the ICU. Ethiopia pulled its forces out in January of this year.

The resultant insecurity has helped feed an explosion of piracy in the Gulf of Aden.

Somalia has been embroiled in chaos since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, and is widely regarded as a failed state.

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