MOGADISHU, Jan 24, 2007 (AFP) - A barrage of mortar shells wounded at least five people, one seriously, in an attack Wednesday on the main airport of Somalia's capital Mogadishu shortly after a UN plane landed, witnesses said.

The attack came after a leading US newspaper reported that the United States had launched a second airstrike against suspected Al-Qaeda targets in southern Somalia on Monday and Ethiopian troops began withdrawing from the city.

The attackers fired several mortars into the facility about 15 minutes after a UN delegation arrived from Kenya, but there was no indication it was the target and an airport official said damage was minimal.

One person thought to have been killed was instead badly wounded and undergoing treatment in hospital, the official said.

"We have five people wounded," the airport security official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The one person we thought to be dead was badly injured but is now recovering."

"The airport is operating as normal, there was no panic," the official said. "It was a small disruption but there was no damage to the runway."

The airport, which also serves as a base for Ethiopian troops who helped the interim Somali government overthrow Islamist hardliners late last month, was being readied for the expected arrival of Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi.

Witnesses said Somali police forces backed by Ethiopian troops sealed off the airport and surrounding neighbourhoods after the attack and then assaulted civilians.

A cafe owner at the airport who has joint Somali-Canadian nationality said he had been shot by police.

"Ethiopian troops and Somali police came into my restaurant and beat us very badly," he told AFP. "I sustained a small gunshot wound, but I am getting treatment in the hospital."

A top Somali police official, who also requested anonymity, told AFP that "the beating was a case of mistaken identity".

The nine-member UN delegation that arrived before the mortars were launched was taken to the UN compound in Mogadishu where they were meeting with Somali officials as planned, UN staffers said.

The attack came a day after a first batch of Ethiopian troops began pulling out of the Mogadishu, even though a proposed 7,600-strong African Union peacekeeping force has yet to be deployed.

In Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said the pullout was the first of a three-phase withdrawal that would likely be completed with the arrival of the AU mission.

"We have started our first phase of withdrawal, timed to coincide with the stabilisation measures put in place by the (government)," he told reporters.

"The next phase will be discussed with the (government) as soon as possible," Meles said. "My expectation is that our last phase will coincide with the AU deployment."

The Islamists who fled Mogadishu on December 28 have threatened to wage a guerilla war against the interim government and remaining Ethiopian troops.

Meanwhile The Washington Post, citing unnamed US officials, reported Wednesday that a US AC-130 gunship struck at suspected Al-Qaeda operatives in southern Somalia on Monday.

If confirmed, it would be the second US attack in January in southern Somalia using an AC-130 -- a fixed-wing aircraft with rapid firing guns -- following a January 8 strike on a site where senior Al-Qaeda operatives were believed to be hiding.

Neither Somali deputy prime minister Hussein Mohamed Aidid nor government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari could confirm the attack.

"This is just speculation and we have not received any information," Aidid told AFP.

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