Mogadishu — A Somali government soldier was killed in attack in Mogadishu on Wednesday, witnesses said, in the latest violence between the shaky U.N.-backed administration and an Islamic insurgency growing in strength.

A hand grenade attack killed the soldier in Towfiq area, while leaving three soldiers wounded, resident Mohamed

No one has yet claimed the responsibility for the attack in the capital, but targeted blasts and assassinations of officials are common in Somalia, where Islamic insurgents have vowed to fight an Iraq-style insurgency against the weak and corrupt U.N.-supported government.

In a separate incident Ethiopian troops have entered in the villages of Afgoi district and discovered several guns in the area.

The troops remained in the locale for more hours.

Somali soldiers and their Ethiopian allies ousted Islamist insurgents from the capital and much of the south in December 2006, after the Islamists had ruled those areas for the previous six months.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and turned on each other.