Somalia fighting kills four

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MOGADISHU, Sept 29 (AFP): Somali Islamist insurgents attacked African Union peacekeepers and government forces in the capital Mogadishu, and at least four people were killed in the clashes, witnesses said Monday.
Two civilians and a soldier died in an attack overnight near the presidential palace, Villa Baidoa, they said.
"Three people, one of them a Somali government soldier, died near Villa Baidoa when two mortar shells struck buildings," said Hamad Ali Ahmed, a witness.
Another civilian died in crossfire in southern Mogadishu's Holwadag district, bringing the death toll to four. At least seven others were wounded, residents said.
Islamist rebels confirmed they first attacked the base hosting African Union, Somali and Ethiopian troops.
"We attacked the bases of Ugandan forces, Ethiopians and the Somali stooges. Five of our men were wounded, but they sustained heavy casualties," Islamist commander Mohamed Mohamud Dulyadeyn told AFP.
Ethiopian troops intervened to prop up the feeble Somali government at the end of 2006 and eventually drove the Islamists from much of the country's southern and central regions, where they had established Sharia law.
Since then, the Islamists have killed numerous government officials and vowed to fight until the Ethiopians, whom they regard as occupiers, withdraw.