 Many of the casualties are civilians caught in the crossfire |
But sporadic gunfire continues between an alliance of warlords and the Islamist militia who have battled with heavy artillery in northern districts.
Militia leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said the truce was a response to appeals from those affected by the violence.
His opponents said the truce was called because of a lack of ammunition.
The warlords’ alliance spokesman Hussein Gutale Rageh said they would only accept the ceasefire if their rivals withdrew from territory they have occupied during the fighting.
The BBC’s Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says on Wednesday morning that in contrast to the battles since Sunday the atmosphere has stabilised.
This is the second round of the city’s most serious fighting in a decade. In March, clashes between the two sides killed at least 90 people.
Warning
Late on Tuesnday, Mr Shariff Ahmed, the chairman of the Joint Islamic Courts in Mogadishu, said his militias’ ceasefire was unconditional, but added a warning.
 | EYEWITNESS  How can we trust unilateral cease fire, while we can see with our eyes ongoing militia mobilisations by both sides?  Ahmed Mo’alin Teacher, Mogadishu  |
“But if we are attacked and somebody fires guns at us, we will not sit and wait,” he said.
The BBC’s correspondent in Mogadishu says civil society groups are meeting with the warlords to get them to accept the ceasefire.
The fighting started late on Sunday, when an alliance of warlords attacked the vehicle of a group allied to the Islamic courts, according to eyewitnesses.
The fighting started late on Sunday, when an alliance of warlords attacked the vehicle of a group allied to the Islamic courts, according to eyewitnesses.
The battles have been fierce, with hundreds of people wounded.
“How can we trust unilateral cease fire, while we can see with our eyes ongoing militia mobilisations by both sides?” Ahmed Mo’alin, a school teacher, whose house was destroyed by a mortar round in the battle, told the BBC.
Hundreds of people have fled the CC district of north Mogadishu, where the fighting broke out.
Khaliif Jumale, 37, loaded his wife and three children onto a donkey cart early on Monday and said he was taking them to Afgoye, 30km (29 miles) north of Mogadishu.
“There is no reliable place here when it comes to our security,” he said.
 Facts and figures about life in Somalia |
At-a-glance“Every corner of the city, the militias of the same rival groups have taken up positions to prepare for more lethal fighting… there is no cold place in an inferno.”
The Islamic courts have restored order to some parts of the city by providing justice under Sharia – Islamic law.
The alliance of warlords recently created the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism.
It accuses the Islamic courts of sheltering foreign al-Qaeda leaders, while the courts say the alliance is a pawn of the United States.
Last week, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf accused the US of funding the coalition of warlords.
The US government says it does support efforts to restore stability to Somalia but refuses to give details on who it backs and how, the BBC’s East Africa correspondent Adam Mynott says.
It has an anti-terror task force based in nearby Djibouti.
Somalia has not had an effective national authority for 15 years after the ousting of President Siad Barre in 1991.
Mr Yusuf was named president in 2004 but only controls a small part of the country.
His government, temporarily based in the city of Baidoa, appealed for an end to the fighting saying it was preventing their relocation.
Source: BBC News, May 10, 2006
