MOGADISHU, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Mortar bombs and rockets struck parts of Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Thursday, killing at least three people, witnesses said.

"The (mortar bombs and rockets) are being fired towards the sea port," said one witness, who identified himself as Mohamed Deq.

"One mortar hit a house nearby, injuring a young boy. Another mortar has hit another house, killing a man and a girl. So many mortars have been fired.

"It is really terrifying. People are coming out of their houses, people are standing in the streets confused."

A rocket-propelled grenade missed its apparent target of a hotel housing government troops and officials, said another witness who declined to be named.

Mogadishu's radio station said it was not immediately clear who was behind Thursday's attacks.

In a two-week war over the New Year period President Abdullahi Yusuf's government, backed by troops and weapons from Ethiopia, drove out Islamists who had controlled Mogadishu and much of the south for six months.

Since their defeat the Islamists have scattered to southern Somalia but vowed a long guerrilla war, and there has been a wave of low-level insurgency-style strikes on Ethiopian and government targets.

REMNANTS

Officials have blamed remnants of the Islamist movement for some of the attacks.

On Tuesday, a series of blasts rocked northern Mogadishu in an area of the capital where Ethiopian troops were based, security sources and residents said.

Ali Daud, another witness to Thursday's attacks, said: "One mortar hit a road close to my house and another hit a building near me. I don't know where to run to. Mortars are falling on residential areas so people must be wounded."

The transitional government, which was not popularly elected, returned to Somalia in January 2005 after being formed in Kenya.

The government is the 14th attempt to establish central rule on the Horn of Africa nation since 1991, when the ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre turned the country into a synonym for anarchy, death and guns.

As the government tries to cement political control of the country, African leaders are struggling to build an African Union peacekeeping force for Somalia, which would fill a security vacuum after Ethiopian troops leave.

Ethiopia says its mission is complete and it wants the first AU units to deploy by mid-February. But an AU summit ended on Wednesday in Addis Ababa with a proposed peacekeeping force for Somalia still lacking firm commitments for thousands of troops.

Many African nations are nervous about committing soldiers to one of the world's most dangerous countries, where warlords and their gunmen ruled unchecked for 15 years.

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