MOGADISHU,(insidesomalia.org)-  At least seven people including four civilians were killed in Somalia's capital today as a guerrilla war continues to rage between Ethiopian-backed government troops and Islamist insurgents, sources said.

Fighting erupted Saturday morning in Mogadishu's Wardhigley district when suspected insurgents attacked a government checkpoint.

Three civilians were killed in the crossfire and four other people wounded, including two people shopping at Mogadishu's Bakara market, witnesses said.

The fighting started slowly, but quickly spread to the outskirts of Bakara market, although the gunfire did not interrupt the market's daily operations.

In a separate attack, a group of heavily-armed insurgents driving a public transportation bus launched a sneak attack on government police manning a checkpoint in Hodan district, locals said.

Four people, including two police officers, were killed in the subsequent gunfire.

Ten others were wounded in the attack, where insurgents used hand grenades and machineguns to target government police, according to witnesses.

The attackers escaped in the mini-bus before extra government troops reach the area. The soldiers then took away the two dead police officers, a witness told Garowe Online.

Guerrilla attacks have rocked Mogadishu since early 2007 when the Ethiopian army ousted the capital's Islamic Courts rulers and installed the weak transitional government.

Upwards of 7,000 people have been killed since and more than 1 million civilians displaced by the war, according to UN estimates.

Source: Garowe Online

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