At least three killed in Mogadishu attacks-residents

MOGADISHU, Feb 10 (Reuters) Grenade and mortar attacks killed three children today in the latest post-war violence in the Somali capital Mogadishu, residents said.

Witnesses said two children died when a mortar landed on their home in the south of the coastal city, and a girl was killed when unknown assailants fired rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) into a hotel hosting reconciliation talks in the north.

''Two children died when a mortar hit their house and many other people were wounded. Many lost limbs,'' one resident who declined to be named told Reuters by telephone from Buula Hubey, a southern neighbourhood near Mogadishu's international airport.

Meanwhile, two RPGs fired at a hotel in the north blew up in the restaurant, killing a young girl and wounding a waiter, a clan elder taking part in the reconciliation talks said.

''They did not explode inside the hotel itself. We are fine,'' he said, adding that police at the hotel had returned fire.

It was the second attack on a Mogadishu hotel in as many days and underlined the volatility in the Horn of Africa nation.

REUTERS AB RK1643