At least three people have been killed and nearly four others were wounded overnight when a strayed artillery shell hit their homes in Beledweyn, the provincial capital of Hiran in central Somalia, residents in the region said Tuesday.

"Three people from a single family, including a young child, were killed when their house was hit by a shell fired from an Ethiopian army base on the outskirts of the city (Beledweyn)," Omar Warey, a resident of Beledweyn, told Xinhua by phone. "Some four others wounded were taken to the hospital."

Somali government officials neither confirmed nor denied the reports of the casualties but the government-appointed District Commissioner of Beledweyn, Ahmed Gobey Awale, told local radio Tuesday that the Ethiopian troops based in the city fired shells in response to an attack against them, saying he was not aware of any civilian casualties from the shells.

Meanwhile, heavy fighting erupted overnight in Al-barakah and Shirkole neighborhoods in Hodon district of the capital, Mogadishu, between suspected Islamist insurgents and Somali and Ethiopian troops stationed in the area.

There are no reports of any casualties, but residents in the area said heavy weaponry were used by both sides and the sound of the explosions were very loud.

"The fighting started close to midnight," said Yahya Farah, a resident in Shirkole neighborhood. "And continued for nearly thirty minutes."

Somali government officials were not immediately available for comment on the latest incidents but government officials often accuse Islamists insurgents for the upsurge in violence in the restive Somali capital since late last April when it declared victory over clan and Islamist groups opposed to the presence of Ethiopian troops in Somalia.

The insurgent groups have been waging an Iraqi-style guerrilla war targeting Somali government officials and security forces and Ethiopian and African Union (AU) peacekeeping troops in Somalia, particularly in Mogadishu where indefinite dusk to dawn curfew has been enforced for more than one month.

A National Reconciliation Conference is going on in the city but was boycotted by major opposition groups who said the talks do not address the real issues and are being held "under Ethiopian occupation of Somalia" despite the government's repeated calls for them to attend.

A number of mortars attack were targeted at the venue of the conference since it was officially opened on July 15. Several people including children were killed in neighborhoods around the conference site as a result of the shells fired by alleged insurgents.

Somali transitional government, formed in 2004 in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, has been struggling to establish its authority in the capital known for lawlessness after the former government was overthrown in 1991 by warlords who carved the Horn of Africa nation into fiefdoms.

(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2007)