Residents are streaming out of Somalia's main city, taking advantage of a lull in violence as troops battle anti-government fighters.
Intermittent fighting broke out early on Saturday in Mogadishu, died down later, only to resume in the afternoon in two neighbourhoods.
At least five civilians died and over a dozen were wounded in the clashes, the AFP news agency said.
In southern Mogadishu, two others were killed when a mortar shell landed near a cafe in the Bakara area, a stronghold of anti-government fighters.
AFP quoted Ali Musa Mohamed, a medic with an ambulance service, as saying that they had collected at least 13 wounded civilians.
An AFP reporter earlier heard an exchange of mortar and artillery fire in areas close to the presidential palace.
Residents emerged from homes to seek food, or join 49,000 others who have fled Mogadishu in the past two weeks.
"Large number of families started fleeing today from new districts and this will deepen the already worsening humanitarian situation," Ali Yasin Gedi, vice-chairman of Elman Peace and Human Rights Organisation, told the Reuters news agency.