MOGADISHU, July 10: Two Somali civilians were killed on Tuesday and five others wounded as a busy Mogadishu market was struck by grenade attacks for the second consecutive day, witnesses and security sources said.

The violence that hit the restive capital’s Bakara market was a repeat of the previous day, when three people were killed in grenade attacks by insurgents and police reprisals.

“A shopkeeper was killed when the government forces opened fire after they were attacked by unknown men with hand grenades,” eyewitness Abdullahi Jamaa told a reporter on the scene.

“He died on the spot and two others were also wounded,” he added.

A second grenade attack targeting government forces in the same area left another civilian dead and several others wounded, witnesses said.

“We heard a heavy explosion and then smoke billowed everywhere,” Hussein Abakey said.

“It was a hand grenade thrown by someone hiding in the crowd. It killed one civilian and apparently wounded three others,” he added.

Despite the daily hit-and-run attacks by suspected Islamist insurgents, a senior police official said security operations had been stepped up in Mogadishu ahead of a national reconciliation meeting scheduled for Sunday.

“Insurgents have blended into the community and they are attacking the government forces with grenades but I can tell you that the city is under martial law and our forces are carrying out raids,” the police said.—AFP