MOGADISHU, Jan 20: An Ethiopian military convoy was ambushed in a new round of deadly violence in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Saturday, hours after the African Union agreed to send peacekeepers to Somalia.

One person was killed in the ambush, which triggered a major gunbattle in the volatile south of Mogadishu.

Coming in the wake of a brazen attack late on Friday on the residence of the interim president, the AU stabilisation force should be under no illusions about the scale of the task that awaits it.

Witnesses said the attackers had managed to melt away.

“When the Ethiopian tanks were attacked, they were forced to open fire in defence. There was fighting but the gunmen fled,” said local resident Mohamed Sheikh Dahil.

Muhidin Roble, another resident of the southern Suqaholaha neighbourhood, said he had seen the body of one male civilian.

“I saw one person killed while he was standing by the roadside and four others were wounded. Three of them are women,” he said.

The identity of the attackers behind the assault on Villa Somalia, the residence of interim President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, also remained a mystery since they managed to escape.

While witnesses said the residence, also in southern Mogadishu, had come under attack from mortar shells, a government spokesman said a volley of anti-aircraft missiles had been used.

Spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said the attack appeared to be the work of youths although no-one had yet been apprehended.

“Neither government forces nor our Ethiopian friends suffered any casualties in the attack, which was carried out by simple gunmen to show the international community that Mogadishu is still very unsafe,” said Dinari.—AFP