Somali insurgents hit police station, Ethiopians

MOGADISHU, July 2 (Reuters) Gunmen fired rockets at a Mogadishu police station and Ethiopian troops in the latest in a string of attacks on government positions in the lawless Horn of African country, residents said today.

There was no immediate confirmation on casualties from either of the two attacks carried out late yesterday by suspected insurgents.

Ethiopians troops based at a stadium in northern Mogadishu were attacked from two fronts, residents said.

''Men carrying rockets and machineguns last night attacked Ethiopian troops,'' resident Kulmiye Mohamed told Reuters. ''They attacked them from two sides with rockets. The Ethiopians responded. It was very heavy fighting.'' Senior police officer Ali Nur confirmed a separate attack on the Hodan police station, which has been assaulted before like many other government positions favoured as targets by insurgents.

''Such attacks have become a normal thing. Gunmen fired rockets and then opened fire at policemen on duty. They were repulsed after a short but heavy exchange. Our soldiers found an AK-47 rifle they left behind,'' Nur told Reuters.

He said no one was injured.

Explosions and deadly duels have engulfed the anarchic city since the interim government, with Ethiopian military help, ousted a militant Islamist movement over the New Year that controlled most of southern Somalia.

Security experts say Islamist fighters have regrouped and are carrying out Iraq-style attacks including roadside bombings, suicide blasts and assassinations.

Meanwhile, a meeting for the Hawiye, Mogadishu's dominant clan, that aimed to iron out differences in its ranks ahead of a mid-July Somali national conference, failed to start due lack of quorum and wrangles among participants.

''The conference was postponed due to suspicion among the participants,'' a peace activist who declined to be named told Reuters. ''Elders decided to put it back for two days hoping to quell the suspicion by then.'' In a speech over the weekend celebrating Somalia's July 1 Independence Day, President Abdullahi Yusuf vowed to end insurgency in the Somali capital Mogadishu and promised to hand over power after his mandate expires in 2009.

Yusuf's administration is the 14th attempt at restoring central rule in Somalia since former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted by clan militias in 1991, and anarchy ensued.

Reuters RKM DB2120