MOGADISHU, July 16, 2007 (AFP) - Fresh violence in the war-scarred Somali capital Mogadishu killed four people Monday, a day after mortar attacks marred the launch of a long delayed national reconciliation conference.

The latest attack took place at the city's Baraka market, the scene of several deadly incidents last week.

Hussein Abdullahi Warsame, a local grocer, said unknown assailants hiding in the crowd "hurled a hand grenade and it exploded near policemen patrolling Bakara."

He said one policeman was killed by the blast and two civilians perished when the police opened fire following the attack.

Another witness said he saw the bodies of at least two people, including a policeman.

A hand grenade also left a Somali soldier dead and a civilian wounded Mogadishu's Bar-Ubah neighbourhood, witnesses said.

"Two government soldiers walking in Bar-Ubah were attacked by two men with hand grenades and one of them was killed," said Abdukadir Ali Dige, adding that a civilian was injured by shrapnel in the explosion.

Somali government forces backed the Ethiopian army and African Union peacekeepers have beefed up security in Mogadishu for the much deferred reconciliation conference, which started Sunday.

Seven mortar shells exploded near the venue Sunday where some 1,300 Somali delegates representing the fractious country's many clans and sub-clans are expected to iron out their differences.

Somalia's embattled transitional government blames the violence on the Islamists it defeated earlier this year with the help of neighbouring Ethiopia's military.

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