Suspected Islamist insurgents clashed with interim government forces searching for weapons in Daynile district, south of the capital Mogadishu.

"I saw 10 people dead and seven others wounded after the fighting stopped," witness Bilan Dahir Mohamed told Reuters.

"We collected the bodies in one place so that residents may come and collect their loved ones."

Government officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, five people were killed in Wanlaweyn district, also south of the capital, when two units of government soldiers battled over control of a local checkpoint.

"Two groups of government forces fought over a checkpoint where cargo trucks are taxed. The fighting killed three government troops and two civilians," local resident Burhan Mohamed Ahmed said by telephone.

Conflict in Somalia killed 6,500 civilians in Mogadishu in 2007 and wounded 8,516 more, a local human rights group says.

The country has been mired in lawlessness since warlords overthrew dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991. The U.N.-backed transitional government is the nation's 14th attempt at restoring central government since then. (Editing by Daniel Wallis)

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