21 killed as Islamists rid Somali capital of brutal warlords

"We have absolutely won the fighting that started in Mogadishu this morning. We now control the whole city after we seized the last territory from warlord Qeydiid," said Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, the deputy secretary of defence for the Islamic courts.

Fighters allied to the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia ousted their rivals loyal to warlord Abdi Hassan Awale Qeydiid, who alongside warlord Hussein Aidid had refused to surrender and handover their weapons to the Islamists, who routed the other warlords from the capital on June 5.

At least 21 people were killed, including civilians, in deadly artillery duels in southern Mogadishu, while dozens were wounded and taken to the capital's Medina and Banadir hospitals, doctors, witnesses and militia said.

Witnesses said warlords' fighters fled from their positions, which they had held for many years, as Islamic militants on battlewagons -- pickup trucks mounted with machineguns -- established base, marking the end of warlords rule in the lawless capital.