Mogadishu - Somali insurgents said Thursday they had attacked one of the transitional government's main military camps 25 kilometres east of Baidoa, the seat of the Horn of Africa nation's parliament.

"We took over Daynuunay camp, butchered a number of their soldiers and dismantled the camp," Sheikh Muktar Abumansor, a spokesman for the Al-Shabaab militia, told reporters in a teleconference.

Local residents said that the battle, which took place late Wednesday evening, was fierce.

The government did not officially confirm the battle or the number of soldiers killed.

The assault came two days after Al-Shabaab attacked the presidential palace and airport in the town of Baidoa, killing four soldiers and wounding others.

It was the first time the seat of the Somali parliament has been attacked since 2006.

Al-Shabaab, the military wing of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), has been waging a guerrilla war against government troops since the UIC was ousted from power at the beginning of 2007.

The transitional government and some moderate opposition leaders signed a ceasefire in early June, but Al-Shabaab has rejected it and said it will continue to fight until Ethiopian forces backing the government leave.

The peace deal specifies that Ethiopian troops should leave, provided sufficient United Nations' peacekeepers have been deployed to relieve an overwhelmed and undermanned African Union force.

The interim government has been unable to achieve stability in the Horn of Africa country, which has been plagued by chaos and civil war since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled in 1991. (dpa)