Heavy fighting between Somali government forces and Al Shabaab fighters has left at least six people dead and another 12 injured in Mogadishu.

The clashes broke out late on Saturday in the districts of Bondhere and Abdiaziz, with the two sides exchanging heavy mortar fire.

Eyewitnesses told a Press TV correspondent that heavily armed fighters had carried out attacks on government bases in the districts.

The wounded civilians were admitted to various hospitals in Mogadishu.

The Somali capital has been racked by deadly clashes between rebels and government troops backed by African Union troops in recent months.

The Al Shabaab fighters are bent on overthrowing the fragile UN-backed transitional government, which controls little more than a few blocks of Mogadishu.

Somalia has been crippled by over 18 years of civil war and has had no functioning government since the collapse of the Siad Barre regime in 1991.

JR/SS/HGL