MOGADISHU, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Four Somali government soldiers were killed and four civilians wounded on Saturday after a roadside bomb exploded near the soldiers in Yaqshid district, northeast of Mogadishu, witnesses and local media said.

    "The explosion targeted the soldiers as they moved along Towfiq Street where four of the Somali government soldiers, who are the newly Ethiopian trained, died," Shabelle radio in Mogadishu reported.

    The explosion also wounded four civilian passers-by. The soldiers started to fan out to the surrounding areas and started house-to-house searches for suspected insurgents, said the witnesses who also confirmed the same death toll.

    No one was reportedly arrested for the explosion which was claimed by Al-Shabaab movement.

    So far government officials have yet to comment on the latest attack on it troops in Mogadishu.

    Meanwhile, in the central Somali city of Beledweyn, Ethiopian troops who have been based in the city for the past two months have reportedly withdrawn from it.

    Battlewagons carrying hundreds of insurgent fighters have taken positions following the Ethiopian military withdrawal from Beledweyn, the provincial capital of Hiran region, 300 km north of Mogadishu.

    It is not clear why the Ethiopian soldiers left the central Somali town but insurgent spokesman told local media that the soldiers "fled from constant military pressure from fighters".

    Ethiopian military commanders here were not available for comment on the latest withdrawal from the Beledweyn which has previously changed hands between insurgent fighters and Ethiopian military.