"Clan warfare as practiced by the warlord-backed militias has created a virtual dragnet that has swept up civilians alongside combatants, leaving a trail of broken lives and shattered families," according to the report commissioned by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The report, People on War, compiled by the Green Research Inc., a private opinion research firm, for the ICRC was released here on Thursday.

Somalia has been ruled by feuding clan warlords since the central government collapsed following the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

"Somalis have come face-to-face with a new, unfamiliar kind of war - a war without limits and rules... Their faith in Islam remains the primary force that guides their thoughts, helps justify contradictory actions and sustains their hope that the war will end," the report says.

According to the report, written after extensive interviews in various regions of Somalia in March and April this year, 65 percent of the interviewees said a member of their immediate family had been killed. Thirty-nine percent knew someone who was raped.

The report, quoting different womens' groups, details various incidents of rape. A 9-year-old girl was raped by combatants. Militiamen raped a woman and her daughter. Seventeen militiamen raped a woman who was eight months pregnant. She gave birth to an immature baby, who they promptly killed.

Displacement and loss of property are also common. Nearly two-thirds of Somalia's 10 million citizens were forced to leave their home and the majority of them had their property damaged or looted.

The report says that increased awareness of the Geneva Conventions could "reduce acceptance of actions that threaten civilians and captured combatants." Only 42 percent of those interviewed said they had heard of the conventions.

"There is broad support for punishment of war crimes, and four in five respondents believe people who break the rules of war should be put on trial," according to the report.

The main reason for attacking civilians in the Somalia conflict is that militiamen are motivated by the desire to win at any cost. Hatred of rival clans is so intense that wartime conduct - local or international - is deemed irrelevant, according to the report. Most of the 1,005 Somalis surveyed criticized atrocities against civilians, but according to the report, one in five respondents accepted those actions as "part of war."

Fifty-one percent of those surveyed said they were in favor of increased intervention by international institutions on behalf of war-affected civilians, but many remain distrustful of Western institutions.

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