Grenade attack kills child in Somalia's Baidoa

MOGADISHU, June 17 (Reuters) A suspected Islamist insurgent tossed a hand grenade into a government-run bank in Somalia's south central town of Baidoa, killing a child outside, residents said today.

It was the latest in a wave of violence since a peace conference was postponed this week for a second time, and the second attack in three days on the government's former base.

''A child passing nearby was killed by shrapnel from the blast.

Two guards and a bank worker inside were injured,'' said Mohamed Abdi, a night watchman at a hotel across the street.

''There are so many al Qaeda members in Baidoa now.'' Tensions have soared in the town since four people were killed there late on Thursday when suspected rebels threw a grenade into a crowd watching a foreign film.

Baidoa has been much more peaceful than the seaside capital Mogadishu, where frequent insurgent attacks targeting government troops and their Ethiopian military allies are blamed on an ousted Islamist group.

Abdi said there were no police on the scene late yesterday to chase the attacker, who fled. Most of the government's security forces had been transferred to Mogadishu.

''The few who remained are just busy extorting the public,'' he told Reuters by telephone. ''The government has given uniforms to former thugs. This is very serious.'' Mogadishu has also seen a wave of violence since the reconciliation conference was postponed on Thursday.

Gunmen staged simultaneous strikes on three Ethiopian army positions, assassins shot dead a local official and two roadside bombs killed two children and maimed civilians.

Ethiopia sent troops into Somalia to shore up the fragile interim government against the threat from the Islamists who ruled much of southern Somalia for six months last year.

The government relocated to Mogadishu from Baidoa after winning a two-week war over the New Year.

REUTERS SW KN1519