MOGADISHU, June 7, 2007 (AFP) - Ethiopia-backed Somali troops on Thursday swooped into residential areas of lawless Mogadishu on a fresh disarmament drive that saw the recovery of hundreds of weapons, the city's mayor said.

The house-to-house operation came in a climate of growing insecurity after a spate of homemade bomb and suicide attacks, including a failed attempt to assassinate Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi at the weekend.

"The operation has started and the aim is to clear the city (of arms) so as to be a place where people can live peacefully," Mogadishu mayor Mohamed Omar Habeb told reporters.

"Today we have recovered machine guns, heavy arms, ammunition and other explosive materials. Our security and disarmament operation will continue ... until we see that the city is a safer place," he said.

Although previous disarmament drives have failed, officials vowed that this time they would succeed, while residents reported a heavy troop presence around the city.

"This is a big operation and we are still in our houses because we cannot go out. Everywhere in the city there is a Somali or Ethiopian soldier," said Mohamed Suleyman, who lives in southern Bakara district.

Police officer Ali Mohamed said they had arrested several people during the raids, which come one week before the start of a planned national reconciliation conference.

Mogadishu has been awash with a wide range of firearms since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

Ethiopian troops helped the weak Somali government oust an Islamist movement -- which had called for a holy war against Addis Ababa -- from the country's southern and central regions at the end of last year.

An Ethiopian offensive at the end of April ended weeks of heavy fighting with Islamist-led insurgents in which hundreds died.

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