(Updates with Mogadishu police station attacked) By Sahra Abdi Ahmed KISMAYU, Somalia, Feb 11 (Reuters) - An explosion tore through a ceremony in southern Somalia on Sunday, killing at least four people and wounding more than 20 others including senior military and police commanders, witnesses said. Attackers also fired rocket-propelled grenades at a police station in the capital Mogadishu, as insecurity rises in the Horn of Africa nation which has endured almost daily violence since Ethiopian and government forces ousted an Islamist movement over the New Year. But the attack on a public gathering of top security officials in southern Kismayu port was particularly audacious. "There was a blast and people started running for their lives, all shouting 'bomb!, bomb!'," said Mohamed Daud, who was in the crowd. "Police started firing in all directions. ... Most of the wounded are civilians." Another witness said he saw the bodies of two traditional elders, a civilian and a government soldier. A Reuters reporter at the ceremony said south Somalia's police chief, Gen. Ahmed Mohamed, was injured in the legs and face by shrapnel. Four army colonels were among at least 24 people wounded. Many in the crowd were trampled as people fled. One senior military official in Kismayu said several people had been arrested on suspicion of involvement and he blamed Islamic extremists. "Al Qaeda was behind this attack," he told reporters, without giving any details. The government says Islamist hardliners and some of their foreign supporters have launched near-daily mortar, rocket and gun attacks since the religious movement fled into the bush. MOUNTING VIOLENCE Kismayu, the last town the Islamists held, had been relatively peaceful. But three weeks ago, unidentified gunmen killed an Ethiopian soldier and wounded another in a shootout in the port, which lies 300 km (185 miles) south of Mogadishu. Most attacks have hit the capital, where residents say some of the violence may have been caused by feuding warlords who quickly returned to the city after the Islamists left. Late on Sunday, unknown assailants shot RPGs at a major police station in northern Mogadishu, triggering a gun battle with security forces, residents and a government source said. "Three RPGs were fired at Madina Police Station," the government source said. "There is no news of casualties yet." Three children were among several people killed in mortar and grenade attacks on Saturday -- one when RPGs were fired into the restaurant of a hotel hosting reconciliation talks. The Islamists ruled most of the south by strict sharia law for about six months. The country has been without central rule since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. Diplomats have urged the world to back and fund an African Union (AU) mission to stabilise Somalia, but only about 4,000 troops have so far been pledged of the 8,000 called for. Demonstrators in the capital have threatened to attack any peacekeepers sent to their country, and the mounting violence has stoking fears in many African capitals that an AU mission could be targeted by Muslim radicals and foreign extremists. (Additional reporting by Guled Mohamed in Mogadishu)
