Mogadishu — An explosion occurred near Mogadishu has struck an Ethiopian troops army vehicles at Arbiska area outside Somali capital on Sunday morning eyewitnesses said.

Witness Mohamed Hassan says he saw a blown-up vehicle laying the wayside, but fled the scene after Ethiopian troops began opening additional fire.

He added that the blast went off as the troops with more than 10 Ural-type vehicles were passing there.

The troops were to have left from Mogadishu as well they sealed off the area after hours of presence at the explosion location and headed to Afgoi and Walaweyn.

Sacdiya Hussein, a local woman at the site of the explosion, said, "It looked very ugly, there was blood everywhere."

No group has yet claimed the responsibility for that blast.

Islamic insurgents have carried out almost daily attacks on government troops and their Ethiopian allies in the capital since they were driven from Mogadishu in December 2006.

In the past few months, fighters linked to the Islamic Courts Union have begun staging hit and run raids on outlying towns.

Impoverished Somalia has not had a government since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned their clan-based militias on each other.