Nairobi/Mogadishu - At least nine people have died in the Somali capital Mogadishu after insurgents targeting the presidential palace hit nearby homes with mortars, witnesses said Wednesday.

"At least six mortars hit the area," a witness told Radio Garowe.

The mortar attack on Tuesday night killed at least nine people, including a group having dinner, witnesses and officials said.

Government forces responded with artillery fire, injuring at least seven people.

Fierce fighting has engulfed Mogadishu since early May as Islamist insurgent groups al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam push to topple the government of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a moderate Islamist who once worked alongside the insurgents.

Over 200 people, the majority of them civilians, have died since fighting intensified in early May. Latest figures from the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR say that
62,000 people have fled north Mogadishu during the same period.

Fighting has also broken out in other areas of Somalia, and on Tuesday the Middle Shabelle region saw fierce exchanges between the insurgents and the pro-government Islamic Courts Union (ICU) militia.

There were no clear reports on casualties.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a hardline Islamist who is on a US terror list, on Tuesday took over the leadership of Hizbul Islam.

The insurgent push came shortly after the return of Aweys, a former ally of Sheikh Sharif, to Mogadishu after a two-year exile.

Aweys refuses to negotiate with Sheikh Sharif, who he says is too close to the West.

The new president came to power earlier this year as part of a UN-backed peace process. However, his government controls only sections of Mogadishu, while the insurgents hold sway across much of southern and central Somalia.

The insurgency, which began after Ethiopian forces invaded in late 2006 to kick out the ICU, has claimed the lives of over 17,000 people, mainly civilians. Ethiopia pulled out in January this year.

Somalia has been embroiled in chaos since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and is widely regarded as a failed state.(dpa)