MOGADISHU - Ethiopian troops shot dead a man who set off a land mine yesterday.

MOGADISHU - Ethiopian troops shot dead a man who set off a land mine yesterday.

This was the latest incident in an increasing spate of Iraqi-style insurgent attacks in the Somali capital.

Three others were arrested after the attack near a goat market in eastern Mogadishu, a security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

"The troops immediately rushed back and found a man who was behind the attack. They shot him dead and arrested three others," he said.

Ibrahim Maalim, a relative of the dead man, said: "I understand he detonated a land mine after the troops passed close to him. I don't know why they shot him while they were not hurt by the blast."

There has been a rise in guerrilla attacks in Mogadishu since the end of a second wave of brutal battles between insurgents and the interim government and its Ethiopian allies in March and April.

Last week insurgents killed four Ugandan peacekeepers with a remote-controlled bomb that targeted their convoy. Similar attacks in the next days targeted Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, the mayor of Mogadishu and other officials.

Fighters from a defeated Islamist movement have promised to carry out Iraq-style insurgency and have increas- ingly been using similar tactics in Mogadishu, including road- side bombs and targeted assassinations. They have even carried out suicide bombings, an alien practice in the traditionally moderate version of Islam practiced by Somalis for centuries.

The government last month said it had broken the back of the insurgency after two assaults on rebel strongholds that killed at least 1300 people while indiscriminate artillery, tank and rocket fire levelled entire neighbourhoods. - Reuters