20/08/07 (B409) REUTERS : Lundi, l’explosion d’une mine, à proximité du centre de Conférences de Mogadiscio, a blessé quatre civils – Mogadishu blast wounds four near peace talks venue (En Anglais – Info lecteur)

A landmine blast wounded four civilians close to the venue of Somalia’s peace meeting in the capital Mogadishu on Monday, a day after a respected elder attending the talks was shot dead.

The early morning attack occurred a few hours before the latest talks began at a refurbished police garage. Witnesses said the blast was aimed at government troops riding on a « technical » — Somalia’s version of a battlewagon.

« Two women and children walking nearby were wounded, » Abdi Bishar, a police officer who witnessed tHe attack, told Reuters by telephone. « The landmine targeted troops in a vehicle. »

Hours later, suspected insurgents hurled a grenade and opened fire at police patrolling around the SOS children’s hospital in north Mogadishu’s Horuwa district, residents said. At least seven people were wounded including five policemen.

« The police responded by firing back. A man and a woman were wounded in the cross fire. I saw five wounded policeman but I don’t know what hit them. It was chaos. People were running and I also fled, » Farhia Farah, who lives nearby, told Reuters.

Such attacks have become a daily occurrence in Mogadishu since an Islamist movement was ousted by Somali government troops and Ethiopian forces at the end of 2006.

Civilians normally suffer the brunt of casualties.

Somalia has been without a functioning government since military ruler Mohamed Siad Barre’s regime collapsed in 1991.

The peace conference is intended to kick-start a peace process, but is being boycotted by Islamist leaders.