MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A roadside bomb exploded in Somalia's capital on Saturday, killing a young girl and a man, and narrowly missing an Ethiopian patrol.
Witnesses said Somali troops opened fire after the bomb blast before sealing off the area in southern Mogadishu.
"A man who was constructing a building there and a 9-year-old girl who was selling tea were killed and five pedestrians were wounded," witness Mohamed Mohamud told Reuters.
The Ethiopian troops escaped unharmed, he said.
Presidential spokesman Hussein Mohamud Hubsired said the explosion took place as the parliamentary speaker arrived in Mogadishu from the provincial town of Baidoa.
"It is true that an explosion happened, but we do not know if it was intended to harm the parliament speaker who is now meeting the president over security issues," Hubsired told Reuters by phone.
Islamist insurgents have stepped up attacks in recent weeks on the government and its Ethiopian allies, who together drove Somalia's Islamic Courts Council from power over a year ago.
More than 6,500 people have died in battles since then, a local human rights group says, and an estimated 2 million others have fled their homes.
On Thursday, five people were killed in fighting between insurgents and the government.
SOURCE: Reuters,February 23, 2008