Mogadishu — At least 11 people have been killed and 16 others have been wounded Monday after government and Ethiopian soldiers shelled Bakaro market in Mogadishu, witnesses said.

"Eight people died in one house in Bakaro market when a mortar shell landed on the house," Ali Muse, an ambulance driver told radio Shabelle.

"Two little girls and their mother were killed after a mortar landed in front of their house," said fadumo, a resident in Geed Jacayl neighbourhood near Bakaro Market.

The shelling came after Al-shabab insurgent group fired mortars to the presidential palace where Ethiopian and government troops are based.

Eyewitnesses say the government and Ethiopian troops fired back to the heavily populated market which caused the civilian deaths.

Earlier on Monday Insurgents attacked with mortars to the Ethiopian bases in north Mogadishu.

Ethiopia recently announced its intention to withdraw its troops which entered Somalia in December of 2006 in order to bolster its own security concerns, and help the TFG defeat the Islamic Courts Union that brought relative peace in much of south and central Somalia.

However, Human Rights Watch issued a report on 7 December 2008 saying that Ethiopia' intervention has fueled new attacks and bombings that have encouraged the conflict to spread into neighboring regions and across borders.

Human Rights Watch accused the rival sides in Mogadishu of human rights violations and committing war crimes.