The attacks Monday night on the Somali presidential palace, a military base, and other targets were among the fiercest since Ethiopian and Somali troops chased out an Islamist movement late last year. The intensified fighting came as the transitional government said it was launching a new, rapid-response force in Mogadishu.
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In recent weeks, insurgents' attacks have killed dozens of people. A car explosion on Sunday killed four.
On Monday, Somalia's transitional government said local radio stations were overstating the gravity of the situation and banned three of them - Shabelle, Banadir, and Horn Afrik, a VOA affiliate that broadcasts some VOA programs - from reporting on government operations and security in the capital.
The recent killing of a Somali journalist, Ali Mohammed Omar of Warsan Radio, has prompted two media-advocacy groups, the International Federation of Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, to call for a full investigation.
Omar was a presenter and technician at Warsan Radio in the Somali town of Baidoa. On Friday, three men allegedly shot him on his way home.
The government has repeatedly shut down Radio Warsan, a privately owned and influential radio station in Somalia. The station had resumed broadcasting less than two weeks ago.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.