Nairobi, (insidesomalia.org)-The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said it is "extremely concerned" about the humanitarian situation in Somalia.
The Swiss-run aid agency said the combination of war and drought had pushed the situation beyond what was bearable.
"The living conditions of many families can only be described as shocking," said Pascal Hundt, head of the ICRC in Somalia, on Wednesday.
Somalia has been mired in violence since warlords overthrew Dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned their heavily armed supporters on one another.
Civilians have borne the brunt of the conflict, which a local rights group says killed 6,500 Somalis last year. Many fear being caught between gunmen waging an Iraqi-style insurgency of assassinations and roadside bombings and retaliatory fire from the Somali-Ethiopian troops.
On Wednesday Ethiopian troops backing Somalia's government opened fire killing nine civilians, after being targeted by insurgents in the central town of Baidoa where parliament sits, residents said.
It was the second attack targeting the allied forces in a week and exposed the interim government's inability to secure law and order in even its biggest stronghold.
Several international and local human rights groups have accused the Ethiopian troops of indiscriminately killing civilians.
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