(CNN) -- Described as the largest single gathering of displaced residents in the world today, tens of thousands of civilians are seeking shelter along the Afgooye corridor outside Mogadishu, according to the United Nations. Members of the U.S. Navy take a young Somali boy to safety after rescuing him and 51 others adrift in a skiff. Fighting between government forces and Islamist militias has triggered the flight of more than 67,000 Somalis in and around Mogadishu since May 8, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday. Most of them are heading to the Afgooye corridor, a 30-kilometer (19-mile) stretch of ramshackle housing described by the United Nations' World Food Program as "a nightmare."
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Fighting has triggered flight of more than 67,000 Somalis since May 8
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Most heading to Afgooye corridor, a 30-kilometer stretch of ramshackle housing
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President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed speaking at a conference in Mogadishu
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Ahmed fears foreign fighters will turn Somalia into another Iraq or Afghanistan
"We are starting today the distribution of aid for some 50,000 people in Afgooye corridor through our local partners in @placeholder," the refugee office said Tuesday.