8 Somalis killed in market attacks

Insurgents hurling grenades near the capital's main market killed at least five Somalis, a witness said Friday, and a former general was assassinated along with his bodyguard and a companion, said his son.

Mohamed Abdulle Matan, a trader at the Bakara market, said two soldiers were also wounded. The attack comes a day after the government announced a major security crackdown on Islamic insurgents.

"The insurgent groups hurled at least nine hand grenades at the soldiers and the soldiers retuned fire," he said.

One of the victims was an attorney at the regional court, he said.

Separately in northern Mogadishu, gunmen shot dead a former Somali intelligence official, General Ahmed Jilacow Addow, along with his driver and another companion, said his son, Jibril Ahmed Jilicow.

The shaky U.N.-backed government has been struggling to assert authority after it chased a powerful Islamic alliance out of power last December with the help of its Ethiopian allies.

The Islamic fighters vowed to fight an Iraq-style insurgency against the government and the Ethiopians, and the fighting has claimed thousands of lives this year.

The government launched a massive operation Thursday to stamp out the insurgency. The mayor's office said authorities planned to divide the city into four security zones and station soldiers at every junction. The number of troops taking part was not announced.

Elsewhere in the city, the Ugandan ambassador to Somalia, Sam Turyamuhika, said the two country's had signed an agreement to help reconcile the government with opposing groups.

Turyamuhika also said that Uganda would help the transitional government distribute food and water to displaced Somalis around Mogadishu.

Uganda currently has 1,800 peacekeepers in Somalia, which were originally sent as part of an 8,000-strong African Union force. However, other countries have been reluctant to send troops and the force has failed to make up its quota.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when a group of powerful clan leaders overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other. The arid Horn of Africa nation is deeply impoverished and split by clan rivalries.

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Associated Press Writer Salad Duhul in Mogadishu, Somalia contributed to this report.