Fighting has raged amid ongoing peace talks [EPA]

The Ethiopian-backed troops launched raids on Sunday in the city's southern Wardhigley district, sparking fighting in which the rivals pounded each other with artillery.
 
"The Ethiopians and Somali forces were firing mortars and anti-aircraft weapons," Mohammed Ali Hussein, a grocer said.

Abdi Hashi, a Somali government security official, confirmed the fighting, but could not provide a death toll.

"There was fighting this morning and for sure it caused casualties, but I can't tell you how many people died," he said.

Face to face combat resulted in the death of government soldiers and anti-government fighters.

Islamic Courts Union fighters have carried out a string of attacks recently across the horn of Africa country, targeting joint Ethiopia-Somali troops and African Union peacekeepers.

Somalia has been stricken by bloody conflict since the 1991 ouster of Mohamed Siad Barre, former Somali president, while numerous United Nations-backed initiatives have failed to restore stability in the nation of 10 million people.

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