At least 21 people have been killed and 45 others injured in gun battle and mortars exchanged by Somali government troops backed by AMISOM and Al-Shabaab extremist militias since Tuesday, Radio Garowe reports.

The clashes broke out at Hodan district of Mogadishu and mortars were later landed in Bakaro Market and Hawlwadaag in the war-scared capital of Somalia.

"Most of the mortars hit Bakaro Market, Hodan and Howlwadaag districts and left dozens dead and others injured” witnesses told Garowe Online.

Somali insurgent groups now control large swaths of land in the country's south-central regions over which the weak, Western-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has limited authority.

Somalia has not had a functioning national government since 1991 and the insurgent groups control large parts of its territory.

GAROWE ONLINE