The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Mogadishu

Fighting between government troops and Islamist insurgents in northern Mogadishu has killed at least six people including three family members, residents said on Tuesday.

Residents were forced to flee under a hail of fire as the soldiers, backed by Ethiopian allies, attacked an insurgent hideout in the SOS area for most of Monday afternoon.

"My wife, first-born daughter and 18-year-old son died when a mortar hit my house," Mohamed Osman, a nurse at the SOS Hospital, told Reuters by telephone.

"My other five children are in hospital wounded. Among them is a 3-year-old daughter in critical condition," he said.