MOGADISHU, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Unknown assailants fired mortar bombs in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Wednesday, wounding at least eight people, a police official said, and a witness said two children had been killed.

"Three mortars hit a building close to the seaport, one boy was wounded. Another mortar hit a house in al Baraka neighbourhood, wounding seven," Ali Said, head of the Mogadishu police, told Reuters.

"Around 9 p.m. (1800 GMT) two mortars flew over my house. One of the mortars hit a house killing two children. I don't know what damage the other mortar caused," witness Mukhatar Abdi told Reuters.

Police chief Said could not confirm any deaths. He said rockets were fired at a hotel where Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi opened a reconciliation workshop earlier this week. He had no further details.

The interim government has blamed remnants of a rival Islamist movement which controlled Mogadishu for several months last year for a wave of guerrilla-style attacks in the capital.

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