Heavy fighting breaks out in Mogadishu

MOGADISHU, Feb 23 (Reuters) Somali government troops and their Ethiopian allies battled unidentified gunmen toiday in the capital Mogadishu.

Two Reuters reporters in the area could hear tank shells exploding and intense gunfire exchanges for over 15 minutes.

Residences in the area, near an Ethiopian and government base at the former defence ministry in northern Mogadishu, were struck by stray bullets and shells during the fighting, they said.

A resident said the gunmen hit the defence ministry with mortars and rockets.

''The government soldiers and Ethiopians fired back using heavy artillery as well as tanks. The fighting continued for close to 20 minutes,'' said a resident who lives across from the building but declined to give his name for fear of reprisal.

There was no immediate word on casualties. The interim government and its Ethiopian allies have been hit with near-daily attacks by unidentified gunmen in the Horn of Africa country's seaside capital.

They blame the remnants of a hardline Islamist movement they drove out of Mogadishu and southern Somalia in a two-week joint offensive before the New Year, saying the militant group is paying 100 dollars for each attack -- a fortune in the poor country.

The Islamists, who ruled much of southern Somalia for six months until they were defeated in early January, have vowed to fight an insurgency against the government and Ethiopia.

Mogadishu is awash in military weapons and people with a grudge against the transitional government, the 14th attempt at establishing central rule in a country without since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

The government is awaiting the deployment of African Union peacekeepers to replace the Ethiopian troops and help stabilise Somalia -- a daunting task for a pan-African body that has struggled to keep peace in Sudan's violent Darfur region.

REUTERS SAM RK2235