UNITED NATIONS, April 26: Saying that the relentless violence in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, is worsening the humanitarian and human rights crisis faced by hundreds of thousands of Somali civilians, the Human Rights Watch asked the UN Security Council to act decisively to end abuses.

In a statement Saturday, the New York-based watchdog group said the Security Council “ought to establish an international commission of inquiry into the recent crimes and consider targeted sanctions on the worst abusers.”

The United Nations Security Council is discussing a new resolution on Somalia and will vote on it next week.

HRW said that the latest clashes pitting a coalition of insurgent forces against Ethiopian and Somali government troops resulted in scores of civilian deaths on April 19 and 20, according to Somali human rights groups, including at least 11 civilians reported killed in fighting at Mogadishu’s Al Hidaya mosque HRW said.

“The latest round of violence in Mogadishu shows that just when you think it can’t get worse for Somali civilians, it does,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

The conflict in Somalia has escalated since early 2007, when Ethiopian troops intervened in support of the Somali Transitional Federal Government and ousted the Islamic Courts Movement from Mogadishu.

Thousands of civilians have been killed and injured and up to 700,000 have been forced to flee indiscriminate attacks, targeted killings, destruction of property and other abuses documented by Human Rights Watch.