MOGADISHU, Feb 15, 2007 (AFP) - Mortar shells hit positions south of the Somalia capital Thursday, highlighting escalating insecurity in lawless Mogadishu, witnesses said.

At least five shells landed in the Black Sea residential district, injuring two people and shattering a two-day lull in the Indian Ocean city.

Mohamed Tukade, a resident near the capital's sea port, said he saw two mortars land near the port, while Ahmed Hussein, a docker, counted three.

"Two rounds of mortars landed near the main sea port, one in a former military jail and the other at the Hamar-Jajab junction," Tukade told AFP.

"I was inside the main port when heavy explosions occurred. I counted three mortar shells as they landed," Hussein said.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest instalment in the ever-increasing violence in Mogadishu, the Islamists' main bastion before they were toppled by joint Somali government-Ethiopian forces in late December.

The movement that brought a semblance of order in the capital and other areas they controlled in central and southern Somalia has since disbanded into clan militia, with some of their members vowing insurgency against the government and a planned force of African Union peacekeepers for Somalia.

Witnesses said the explosions blackened the skies over Mogadishu, sending frightened residents running for shelter.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi appealed for the speedy deployment of the troops to return stability to the country that has been torn apart by 16 years of anarchic bloodletting.

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