March 19, 2007	Monday	Safar 29, 1428

MOGADISHU, March 18: Gunmen stepped up attacks in Somalia's capital on Sunday, killing a civilian and wounding 11 others, hours after a police chief leading a crackdown on insurgency was shot dead in the southern port of Kismayo.

In Mogadishu, a barrage of mortar shells crashed down into a civilian district after missing their target in the seaport, where an African Union-chartered freighter carrying military hardware is expected to dock.

In addition, gunmen ambushed a convoy of Ethiopian troops near the seaport in southern Mogadishu, sparking a gun battle, highlighting the government's inability to rein in deadly and complex insurgency.

“A middle-aged man was killed during the cross fire near the seaport,” said Muhidin Farah, a cousin of the deceased in Mogadishu, which has frequently been riven be clan strife since the collapse of a central government in 1991.

Doctors and residents said at least 11 people were wounded when most of the 13 mortars blasted a restaurant in the nearby Hamel Jejab neighbourhood, one of the most battle-weary parts of in the city, as well as the Ethiopian ambush.

Ethiopian troops last December launched a lightning offensive alongside the fighters of the weak Somali government to rout an Islamic Courts Union from the country's towns, but radical Islamists have since fought back and an AU force of 8,000 peacekeepers has begun to deploy.

“We have so far received seven wounded civilians, including two children and a woman,” said Mohamed Ali, a medic in the capital's Medina Hospital.

“Some of them are severely wounded, but we are trying to save their lives. They are all victims of this afternoon's attacks in southern Mogadishu,” Ali added.

Resident Abdulaziz Mohamed said four other civilians were wounded in the attacks -- two were taken to a private hospital and two others treated in a pharmacy.

A duty police official in the seaport said: “The insurgents have fired 13 mortar shells at the seaport, but no one was injured inside here. Most of the shells landed outside the port compound.” “There was a small gunfire after gunmen ambushed Ethiopian forces near the seaport, but no one was injured,” added the officer.

It was unclear if the either insurgents or Ethiopian troops suffered an fatality in the fighting, the latest in a series of duels that have firmly cemented Mogadishu's reputation as one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

In port town of Kismayo, 500 kilometres south of Mogadishu, regional police commander Major Abdi Mohamed Abdulle was killed overnight in his compound by one of his body guards.

A second bodyguard and two children in a neighbouring house were injured in the incident, witnesses said. The man suspected of shooting Abdulle has been arrested and taken into custody.

“He was shot at close range and bled too much. He was pronounced dead on arrival in hospital,” said Ahmed Abdi, a police officer.

Abdulle had gained reputation for his unrelenting crackdown on gunmen in the port town, which was the last bastion of the Islamists ousted from much of south and central Somalia in January.

Analysts say that in coming weeks the government must prove it can assure control Mogadishu security ahead of the April 16 opening of a national reconciliation conference, which insurgents are keen on disrupting.

Attacks on civilian targets in the seaside capital have claimed dozens of lives and forced at least 40,000 people to flee despite a deployment of at least 4,000 government troops and assurances of improving security.—AFP