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MOGADISHU, Somalia — Frightened Somalis stacked household goods on carts pulled by donkeys and fled the heaviest fighting the capital has seen in almost a year Friday, after hundreds of insurgents moved into an area this week that was previously controlled by government forces.

The battles that have killed more than 50 people could foreshadow a violent spring in Mogadishu, as government troops prepare to launch a true offensive against Islamist insurgents who the U.S. says are linked to al-Qaeda.

Mogadishu’s mayor warned residents to flee, but those abandoning the violence might be moving into arid areas of the lawless Horn of Africa nation where they will find little to eat.