Three Somali soldiers and two civilians were killed Saturday in fighting between government troops and Islamist insurgents in the capital Mogadishu, witnesses said. Insurgents attacked a military base in southern Mogadishu's Wardhigley neighbourhood, killing two soldiers and two civilians. “The government forces used machine guns attached on armed vehicles and the insurgents responded with rifles and grenades. Two soldiers and two civilians were killed,” said Shidane Ali Mohamed, a witness. In another incident, a soldier was killed near K4 neighbourhood in another insurgent attack, bringing the toll to five, said witness Yusuf Adan Sharif. Over the past year, the insurgents have attacked government targets after being ousted from the southern and central regions by Ethiopian-backed Somali troops early 2007. The guerrilla fighting has killed thousands and forced hundreds of thousands to flee mainly from Mogadishu, which has been the epicentre of the clashes. In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the prime minister of Somalia, Nur Hassan Hussein, met with the Sec. Gen. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, to discuss reconciliation plans for Somalis abroad; as well as plans during the transitional period until the 2009 elections. __
