Somalis bury dead

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Mogadishu residents buried their dead and ventured onto streets for the first time in five days on Monday during a lull in battles pitting Ethiopian and Somali troops against Islamist insurgents and clan militia.

But even as elders from the dominant Hawiye clan insisted a truce was in place, hundreds of Ethiopian reinforcements drove into Mogadishu from other parts of Somalia, witnesses said.

One land mine exploded in south Mogadishu as a government convoy passed and there was sporadic gunfire. But the coastal capital was generally quieter after four days of ferocious fighting that residents say have killed several hundred people.