WORLD BRIEFING / SOMALIA

Somalis face near-daily atrocities, including rape, the shelling of civilian areas and fighting that has forced more than 100,000 to flee their homes since May, the U.N. refugee agency said.

The surge of violence in Somalia has killed about 200 people as Islamist insurgents battle the government and its allies. Insurgents are trying to topple the Western-backed government and create a strict Islamic state.

“It’s a critical humanitarian situation, with regular atrocities being committed,” William Spindler, a spokesman for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told reporters in Geneva. Fighting has killed thousands of civilians and sent hundreds of thousands fleeing in recent years. Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991.