10 civilians killed in Somalia gun battles

A rocket-propelled grenade attack and gunfight targeting African Union peacekeepers today has killed at least 10 civilians and wounded two soldiers in Somalia's capital Mogadishu.

The attack came as a leading member of an Islamic militia that used to rule the city called on residents to fight all "non-believers", witnesses said.

The peacekeepers, who started arriving on Tuesday and were the first in Mogadishu in more than a decade, were attacked last night at a main intersection in one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

Mustaf Farah, a restaurant owner who witnessed the attack, said he heard an explosion as three armoured vehicles carrying peacekeepers went by, followed by gunfire.

Approximately 800 peacekeepers from Uganda are the vanguard of a larger force authorised by the United Nations to help the government assert its authority.

The government, backed by troops from neighbouring Ethiopia, toppled a radical Islamic militia in Somalia in late December, but is struggling to keep control.

Insurgents believed to be the remnants of Somalia's Council of Islamic Courts have staged almost daily attacks against the government, its armed forces or the Ethiopian military.