Mogadishu - Somalia's parliament on Monday backed Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, scuppering President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed's plans to fire him.

Yusuf on Sunday fired Hussein, saying he was "unable to perform his duties" and that he was obliged to act to save the country.

However, the parliament in the town of Baidoa must approve the decision - yet it voted overwhelmingly that Hussein and his government were "legitimate."

Yusuf has been at loggerheads with his prime minister since the summer, when Hussein fired the Mogadishu Mayor, a close ally of Yusuf.

Mogadishu - At least 15 Somali civilians died and many others were wounded when Ethiopian forces shelled an insurgent stronghold in north Mogadishu on Friday, witnesses said Saturday.

"In a vegetable market around me, five civilians died on the spot instantly after a shell landed," Fadumo Yusuf, a shopkeeper, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. "The shells landed consecutively and it was to difficult to escape."

Another resident in the area Abdi Wahab told dpa that around seven other dead civilians could seen in the area and 10 wounded people were rushed to hospitals.

Mogadishu - Somali pirates have reduced their ransom demand for a hijacked Saudi supertanker to 15 million dollars and moved the ship after threats from an Islamist insurgent group, a local elder and an Islamist spokesman said Monday.

Pirates seized the Sirius Star, which is carrying a full load of crude oil worth 100 million dollars, around 830 kilometres south-east of the Kenyan port of Mombasa over a week ago.

They initially demanded that ship owner Saudi Aramco pay 25 million dollars by November 30 or face "disastrous action."

Mogadishu - At least 17 Islamist insurgents have been killed in a gun battle in the Somali capital Mogadishu, a local government official said Friday.

The battle came as the insurgents attacked the home of Ahmed Hassan Daa'I, the district commissioner of Wadajir, south Mogadishu, in the early hours of Friday morning.

"Today we killed 17 insurgents around my home," Hassan Daa'I told reporters. "We have their dead bodies and the weapons they used to attack my home."

Witnesses said that they saw at least 11 bodies in the street but could not tell if they were combatants or civilians.

Mogadishu - They drive flashy cars, throw extravagant parties in their massive houses, talk loudly into the latest mobile phones and take only the most beautiful young women as their wives.

This may seem like a description of any number of bling-bling rap artists, but it also applies to Somali pirates, who are swiftly becoming the Horn of Africa nation's nouveau riche.

Mogadishu - Somali insurgent group al-Shabaab has taken over the port town of Merka, 90 kilometres southwest of the capital Mogadishu, after government forces abandoned their posts overnight, residents said Wednesday.

"Heavily armed Islamists entered Merka without any resistance," Aweys Dahir, a resident in Merka, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by telephone. "They have already set up two bases in town and are patrolling the streets."

The fighters also took over two other towns in the region.