MOGADISHU (AFP) -- Three Somali civilians were killed overnight Wednesday as violence pitting Ethiopian-backed government forces against an Islamist-led insurgency continued to rock Mogadishu, witnesses said.

""I heard gunfire outside my house and when I went out I saw three dead civilians,"" a resident of the capital's southern Bulo Hubey neighborhood told AFP. ""I'm not sure who is behind the killing,"" he added.
The incident took place near a base used by government forces.
""The government forces reached the area and sealed it off, barring people from coming close to the bodies,"" said Hasan Warsame, another witness.
In further overnight violence, insurgents launched an attack against a police station in the southern district of Holwadag, witnesses and security sources said.
""It was late when the insurgents launched an attack against our station in Holwadag. Our forces repelled them and we killed two of the insurgents while one of our men was injured,"" police spokesman Abdulwahid Mohamed told AFP.
In a statement posted on the official website of the Shabab -- the military wing of Somalia's Islamist movement which has spearheaded the insurgency -- it claimed six policemen were killed in the attack.
""The young Islamic warriors (Shabab) attacked a police station sheltering Somali traitors and six of them were killed while four others were wounded. Two of our mujahedin (fighters) were martyred,"" the statement said.
Ethiopia's mighty army came to the rescue of Somalia's embattled transitional government last year to defeat an Islamist militia that briefly controlled large parts of the country and strictly enforced Islamic law.
Since the alliance wrested final control of Mogadishu from the Islamists in April the capital has been plagued by almost daily guerrilla attacks.