Mogadishu - Clashes between Islamic rebels and government soldiers in the north of the Somali capital Mogadishu left a number of people dead including five children between the ages of 6 and 13, it was reported Monday.

The children, pupils at a Koran school, were reported by witnesses to have been trying to flee as rebels attacked an Ethiopian military base on Sunday evening.

In another incident, two youths were killed when a grenade exploded on a football field where the teenagers were playing.

A spokesman for the radical Islamist Al-Shabab Militia said Monday that the rebels had killed nine soldiers and wounded several more.

In the central Somalia, rebels also attacked a convoy of army recruits on their way to Mogadishu. According to an army spokesman, 12 rebels were killed in the clash, including an Iraqi and a Pakistani.

Islamic rebels have been waging a guerilla war against the Somali transitional government and its Ethiopian allies since the overthrow in early 2007 of a government led by the Union of Islamic Courts. (dpa)