MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) – Somalia’s new prime minister will try to open a dialogue with Islamists to end an insurgency that a human rights group said has killed nearly 6,000 civilians so far this year, officials said Sunday.

Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, who formed his Cabinet on Sunday, has vowed to reconcile the nation as it struggles to contain the insurgency.

“The new prime minister will talk with Islamists and other opponents,” presidential spokesman Hussein Mohamed Mohamoud told The Associated Press. “That is the first priority.”

Ethiopia came to the aid of Somalia’s government last December to rout the Council of Islamic Courts militia. The Islamic group’s fighters have since launched an Iraq-style insurgency, and gunbattles, grenade and mortar attacks have decimated this seaside capital.

Numerous and repeated attempts at dialogue between the insurgents and the government have so far yielded no result.

Hussein, the former head of the Somali Red Crescent Society, took office last month pledging to address his nation’s major problems within the next two years with a focus on security, reconciliation issues and facilitating humanitarian assistance.

The Elman Human Rights group said Sunday it has tallied 5,960 deaths since January in a country where obtaining a reliable death toll is nearly impossible. The report also said 7,980 people were wounded and more than 700,000 displaced from their homes this year.

During some of the heaviest fighting this year, witnesses said bodies were not being picked up or even counted. The few aid groups who brave the capital do not have the tools to perform an accurate count.

There was no way to verify Elman’s count and there are no published figures from other groups to compare it to.

Government officials were not immediately available for comment on the report, although they have accused the local group in the past of exaggerating death tolls.

Elman chairman Sudan Ali Ahmed says his group collects figures from hospitals, local residents and its own recording of burials in Mogadishu.

The group has been compiling its figures in secret since the mayor of Mogadishu banned the organization in October, saying it was spreading false information.

“Our staff members are collecting figures and facts about human rights abuses by visiting residential areas and medical centers,” Ahmed said.

The Associated Press by telephone Sunday from an undisclosed location.

Elman has 116 staff across the country. The group has tracked the killings of civilians during Mogadishu’s near-daily violence this year and has also reported on violations in recent years.

Several human rights groups have accused the government, insurgents and Ethiopian troops of committing abuses.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since a group of warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, then turned their heavily armed supporters on each other.

The country also has struggled with rampant piracy off its lawless coast. The International Maritime Bureau has recorded 31 attacks off Somalia this year but believe many more go unreported.

On Sunday, the crew of a ship hijacked Oct. 17 was released, said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy, which has come to the aid of hijacked vessels off Somalia’s coast.

It was not clear how many people were on board the al-Marjan or what condition they were in. The vessel was flying under a Comoros flag.

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Associated Press writer Mohamed Olad Hassan contributed to this report.

AP-ES-12-02-07 1430EST