Insurgents in Somalia have dragged the bodies of dead soldiers through the streets of the capital and set them on fire, following one of the heaviest days of fighting this year.
At least 16 people were killed in a fierce battle Wednesday when assailants attacked Ethiopian tanks near the headquarters of Somalia's former defense ministry.
Witnesses say the dead include at least six soldiers. Doctors say more than 80 people were wounded.
It is not clear whether the soldiers dragged through the streets of Mogadishu were Ethiopian or Somali. Witnesses say crowds chanted and shouted in support of the insurgents and threw stones at the corpses.
The top U.S. diplomat in the region called the soldiers' mutilation a horrendous act, and he said the U.S. condemns it in the strongest terms.