The death toll has hit 20 on Thursday in the heavy fighting that broke out between Somali government forces supported by the African Union (AU) peacekeeping troops and Islamist insurgent fighters in Mogadishu, medical sources and witnesses said.

Meanwhile, almost 60 others were injured in the fighting.

The clashes erupted in the early hours of the morning after the Somali government forces backed by AU peacekeepers attacked positions of Islamist rebels in the north of the Somali capital Mogadishu.

"We took 59 wounded civilians to the hospitals and our ambulance drivers report spotting 16 dead bodies in the streets of the city's neighborhoods, five of them in a single place" Ali Muse, head of local emergency service told Xinhua.

Hospital sources say four others were also died after being admitted to the hospitals while local media reports gave the similar casualty figures.

Fighting has now largely subsided with both sides claiming victory in the clashes.

Somali government officials said that they have taken a number of important positions from the insurgent fighters in the north of the coastal city where the remaining residents have been fleeing since the latest battles erupted.

Islamist rebels have told local media that they have managed to repulse the government onslaught and that they destroyed at least one of the armored vehicles of the UA peacekeepers, a claim that could not be independently verified.

Residents said that fighting began unexpectedly and many people were caught in the crossfire.

"Bullets and shells began to hit our neighborhood and everyone started to run for their lives. I am sure many have been killed or wounded because the fighting caught us unawares," Nima Jama, a resident in the north of the Somali capital told Xinhua.

Meanwhile reports from the central Somali town of Beledweyn said that Islamist fighters from Hezbul Islam group regained control of the important town, a trading hub near the Somali- Ethiopian border.

Pro-government forces have partly taken control of the city after fierce clashes with insurgent fighters in Beledweyn, provincial capital of Hiran region, 300 km north of Mogadishu.