At least 10 killed as Mogadishu violence surges

MOGADISHU, Aug 2 (Reuters) Suspected Islamist rebels fired rockets and mortar bombs at Somali security forces, killing at least 10 people in the latest surge of violence to engulf the capital Mogadishu, residents said today.

The city has seen increasingly brazen attacks this week by guerrillas who are targeting government troops, their Ethiopian military allies and African Union peacekeepers from Uganda.

At least nine people were killed in an overnight raid on a police station in northern Mogadishu's Daynile neighbourhood, while another civilian died when an attacker hurled a grenade at a cafe popular with military officers in the south of the city.

''Insurgents fired rockets and mortar shells at the base around midnight,'' said resident Ibrahim Mohamed, who lives near the police compound in Daynile. ''Most of the dead were killed by shrapnel that tore through the iron sheets of their homes.'' A police commander blamed the attack on unknown gunmen.

''They just killed poor civilians who were living inside the base,'' the officer, Abdullahi Hassan, told Reuters. ''The public needs to stop such people from hiding among them.'' Nine Somali army officers were wounded by the grenade blast outside the cafe in Madina, another police commander said.

Mogadishu has been rocked by violence since January when the interim government and Ethiopian troops drove out Islamists who ruled much of southern Somalia for six months of last year.

Hardline remnants of the Islamist group are now blamed for an Iraq-style insurgency of roadside bombs, suicide blasts and assassinations that aid officials say is stopping tens of thousands of residents who fled the city from returning home.

Reuters PD VV1627