At least 11 killed in Mogadishu attack: Residents

Mogadishu, Mar 8: Insurgents trying to attack African Union peacekeepers hit a restaurant in Somalia's capital Mogadishu with a rocket-propelled grenade, killing at least nine people in the building, residents said today.

They said two other people were killed in the clash between the insurgents and the peacekeepers yesterday, but it was not immediately clear whether the two were guerrillas or civilians.

Islamists, driven out of Mogadishu by the interim government and Ethiopian forces in December, have vowed to fight the peacekeepers and are believed to be behind almost daily attacks in the city.

The first African Union (AU) peacekeepers, a unit of Ugandan soldiers, arrived in the capital this week.

''The place was littered with human limbs. The death toll from the restaurant alone is nine people,'' said a Mogadishu resident, who gave his name as Mohamed.

''Opposite the restaurant, in the direction that the Ugandans were firing, lay two bodies but the death toll is higher than those two,'' he said.

No immediate comment was available from the AU peacekeepers.

REUTERS