Garowe — Ethiopian army soldiers conducting routine search operations in a small village in south Somalia came under gunfire Thursday, sparking a battle that killed at least 4 civilians, witnesses said.

The fighting in Gobale, a village in Lower Shabelle region, wounded an unknown number of people, including civilians, Ethiopian soldiers and insurgents.

But the death toll on the Ethiopian army side or the insurgents could not be independently confirmed.

Unconfirmed reports said insurgents burned an Ethiopian army transport truck.

The Ethiopian soldiers used heavy weapons in squashing the resistance fighters, who were eventually forced to flee as the Ethiopians took full control of Gobale village.

Today's deadly attack follows a gunfight yesterday in the outskirts of south Mogadishu, which killed four soldiers and a civilian.

Insurgent attacks in the countryside, including in Lower Shabelle, Hiran and Bay regions where the parliament is based, have been on the increase in recent months.

A bloody insurgency has raged in Somalia since January 2007 when the Ethiopian army ousted Islamic rulers from Mogadishu and installed the secular, albeit weak, Transitional Federal Government.

More than 6,500 people were killed last year in Mogadishu alone, according to human rights groups.