NAIROBI, March 29 (Xinhua) -- The UN refugee agency said on Thursday the fighting in Somalia's capital Mogadishu has driven out of the city an estimated 57,000 Somalis in the past two months.

    The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)said more than 10,000 people fled violence last week, which left at least 24 people dead.

    "UNHCR's local partners in Mogadishu said they had seen hundreds of people waiting anxiously during the weekend in crowded bus stations or searching for truck drivers to take them out of the volatile city," the agency said in a news release.

    There has been a steady exodus from the city since the beginning of February, when armed groups clashed with forces of the transitional government, which seized the capital in December from the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts.

    The UNHCR said the outflow intensified last week and the interim government told civilians to leave certain areas of the city, apparently so that it could step up its offensive against the insurgents.

    Since the beginning of March, UNHCR said some 2,250 inhabitants of the Somali capital have travelled more than 700 km northeast to Galkayo, where the UN agency has a presence.

    "These people remain at risk even after leaving Mogadishu," said UNHCR partner in Galkayo, referring to those making the long journey.

    "They have to travel through illegal road blocks, knowing that their belongings might attract thugs and fearing that they might be killed or see their teenage children be raped or abducted."

    In Galkayo, UNHCR Protection Officer Alexander Tyler said most of the people arriving from Mogadishu were women and children with relatives or clan links in the town, where they either stayed with family or moved to one of 14 IDP settlements.

    "New arrivals have said it is difficult for men to make the journey because it means crossing clan lines, which would put them at risk of revenge killings," said Terry.

    He said those moving to the IDP settlements arrived with the most basic household items and depended on other people to support them.

    "They have to live in the shelters of other IDPs and to ask them for food, which puts further pressure on the limited capacity of Galkayo to cope with already up to 25,000 IDPs," Terry added.