SOMALIA Three days of intense fighting in the capital city Mogadishu has left a number of people dead, as an extremist group aligned with al Qaeda attacks the government and African peacekeepers. A suicide car bomber attacked a police base on Monday, killing at least seven people, including two children, according to reports.

Over the weekend, African Union peacekeepers defending the weak transitional government claimed to have uncovered an extensive trench system used by Islamist insurgents to funnel “fighters and ammunition in and out of government-held districts.” But that report was followed by the suicide attack involving a truck loaded with fuel and explosives.