GENEVA (AP) – The U.N. refugee agency says over 17,000 people have been driven from their homes in the capital of Somalia this month by heavy fighting between government forces and rebels.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says most of the uprooted are stuck in Mogadishu because they cannot afford transport to makeshift camps outside. It says they are staying in the streets and lack basic services.

Agency spokesman Andrej Mahecic says the recent round of fighting in Mogadishu has left at least 60 people dead and more than 50 wounded.

He said Friday an estimated 200,000 Somalis have been uprooted this year.

Islamist groups trying to topple the Western-backed government have been dominating much of Somalia’s center and south.