By DPA
Mogadishu : A shootout in the Somali capital's main market Monday left at least six people killed and the same number wounded, a day after Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi escaped a suicide bomb attack.
Gunmen opened fire in Bakara Market in southern Mogadishu, killing two policemen and sparking a shower of bullets from nearby officers who hit civilians in the crossfire.
"The police are shooting at the people after two of them were killed," said Khalid Yare, a witness who runs a shop in the market. "Four people were killed in the market, two were women. The six injured were rushed to the hospital."
A policeman at the scene said the gunmen were suspected Islamist fighters, who have been staging an Iraq-style insurgency on foreign troops in the country and the government.
Earlier Monday, two blasts rocked bullet-scarred Mogadishu after grenades were launched at a military convoy patrolling the city, reports said.
There were no reports of casualties from the explosions.
Monday's violence came one day after a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside the home of the interim Prime Minister Gedi, killing seven people.
Gedi was unharmed but was ferried away to safety shortly after by Ethiopian troops and African Union (AU) peacekeepers.
Somalia has seen a sharp increase in attacks on the transitional government and foreign troops in the country by remnants of an Islamist group that ruled most of the country for the last half of 2006.