MOGADISHU, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - Four people were killed and eight others wounded when a mortar crashed into a house in the Somali capital, where the government is battling insurgents, witnesses said Monday.

The mortar hit the house near the presidential palace in Mogadishu's Wardhigley district overnight and killed a mother and her three children, said Hussein Adan Luqman, a local elder.

It was not clear if the palace had been the target.

Another resident, Farah Mohamed Sahal, said eight civilians had been wounded in the same incident, the latest in a string of attacks.

Four other civilians were wounded after Ethiopian forces responded to mortar attacks in northern Mogadishu's Gupta neighbourhood, witnesses said.

"Both sides are missing targets and hitting civilian areas," said local resident Mohamed Ali.

The Somali capital has in recent months been plagued by guerrilla-style attacks against government forces and the Ethiopian troops backing them.

The United Nations humanitarian chief John Holmes at the weekend lamented that the situation was worsening in Mogadishu, where attacks have choked the delivery of humanitarian supplies.

The embattled transitional government mainly blames the violence on Islamists who controlled large parts of south and central Somalia last year before being ousted with the help of the Ethiopian army.

But some Mogadishu neighbourhoods have also been rocked by criminal and gangland killings.

The troubled Horn of Africa country has had no central authority since former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled in 1991 and has defied numerous attempts to restore stability.

©2007 AFP All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed. All reproduction or redistribution is expressly forbidden without the prior written agreement of AFP.

top