MOGADISHU (Reuters/AFP) - Clashes between rival groups have killed at least 65 people and wounded more than 190 others in three days of battles in Somalias capital, witnesses and hospital sources said on Sunday. Hundreds of fighters loyal to the government and opposition Al-Shabaab militiamen fought with heavy machineguns and mortars in northern Mogadishu over the weekend. We killed an uncountable number of government fighters and moderate Islamists. Their dead bodies lie in the streets, Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim Bilal, a senior Al-Shabaab official, told Reuters. Now north Mogadishu is under our control. We swept them from five key positions including Mogadishu football stadium. Residents and hospital sources said 50 people had been killed in the fighting and 181 others wounded. At least 15 other people were killed and ten injured when a mortar struck a local mosque on Sunday, witnesses said. I can see 15 bodies of people killed after a mortar hit a mosque, witness Hassan Abdulle told Reuters by telephone. They wanted to attend the afternoon prayers. The mosque was hit just as namazis were filing in for the afternoon prayers, witnesses said. The mortar shell struck at the gate of the mosque, Hassan Abdifatah told AFP. There was blood and body parts everywhere. Mumin Haji Yusuf, another namazi, said: I was inside the mosque when I heard a heavy explosion and shrapnel was flying everywhere killing many people. A local elder told Reuters that foreign fighters were taking part in the clashes. We see long-bearded Arabs everywhere, Osman Ali said. There was no independent confirmation of the presence of foreigners. Western security agencies have long feared that Somalia could become a haven for terrorists. The anarchic nation has been without effective central rule since 1991. Two local reporters were wounded after a mortar struck a news conference, witnesses said. The fighting - with both sides using heavy machine guns, artillery and anti-aircraft weapons - erupted on Thursday, but escalated on Saturday as the two sides clashed over key positions in the war-ravaged Mogadishu. The AL-Shabaab group said it had taken control of contested areas in southern Mogadishu, but the government dismissed their claim. We have taken control of the areas we fought over with the enemy of Allah, Sheikh Ali Mohamed, an Al-Shabaab official in charge of Mogadishu, told reporters. Seized, he said, were Mogadishu stadium, the Defence Ministry building and a key road a claim confirmed by several witnesses. But at a news conference Information Minister Farhan Mohamoud said the insurgents did not take any position from the government forces. This war is led by foreign fighters who want to take control of Somalia, he said. They waged a full attack on government positions and this is what they had planned in order to overthrow the government. Police, hospital officials and witnesses said nearly 200 people have been wounded in the fighting. Thousands of residents, with belongings on their heads or strapped on their backs, were seen fleeing their homes. Others found themselves trapped amid the fighting. It was shocking last night here in my neighbourhood - a mortar hit a house killing four family members on the spot, said resident Husein Mohamed Waberi. Three local journalists returning from a news conference given by Sheikh Ali Mohamoud, a Shabaab official in charge of Mogadishu, are among those who have been wounded.