MOGADISHU, Somalia Sep 11 (Garowe Online) - At least 32 civilians have been killed in the Somali capital Mogadishu over the course of a four-day surge in violence, Radio Garowe reports.

Mogadishu-based Elman Human Rights group issued a report Thursday, with the group's deputy chairman telling reporters that the civilian casualties included women and children.

"Four days of fighting [Sep. 5 – Sep. 8, 2009] caused 32 civilian deaths and this is a terrifying development that has not happened in Mogadishu before," read the group's report.

Elman's report noted that the dead included 18 women and 7 children, with Mogadishu area hospitals reportedly admitting 82 wounded civilians over the course of the four-day battles between Somali government forces and insurgents.

The human rights group appealed for peace, while calling on all sides including African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu to protect civilians.

Ali "Fadhaa" Sheikh Yasin, Elman's deputy chairman who signed the report, warned: "All groups who kill, wound and displace civilians will be held responsible one day."

Somali insurgent groups, Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, have vowed that the violence will not stop until the Islamist hardliners overthrow Somalia’s UN-backed transitional federal government.

Source: Garowe Online