* Government forces capture two districts in capital * Defence minister vows to oust rebels from next week * Security minister in central Somalia to launch offensive (Recasts with Defence Minister, Somali journalist seized) By Ibrahim Mohamed and Abdi Guled MOGADISHU, June 2 (Reuters) - Somali government forces drove Islamist insurgents from two districts of the capital after heavy fighting on Tuesday and vowed to rid Mogadishu of the hardline rebels from next week. Insurgents with links to al Qaeda stepped up attacks in Mogadishu in early May and government forces have battled to recapture lost ground. Fighting has killed more than 200 people since then and nearly 70,000 residents have fled. "Our forces control the situation and we hope from next week, all Islamic combatants will be pushed out of Mogadishu," said Somali Defence Minister Mohamed Abdi Gandi. Gandi told reporters during a visit to Burundi, one of two African countries with peacekeepers in Somalia, that government forces and allies were now in 14 out of 16 Mogadishu suburbs. The battle for Mogadishu is the stiffest test yet for new President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a former Islamist rebel who joined a U.N.-brokered peace process last year and was elected by parliament in January. Advances by the insurgent group al Shabaab and allies have been worrying Western powers and neighbours as they fear the Islamist rebels may use Somalia as a base to destabilise the region's two biggest economies, Kenya and Ethiopia. REINFORCEMENTS IN CENTRAL SOMALIA Abdiqadir Odweyne, a senior police officer, told Reuters government forces had retaken Madina and Dharkenley districts on Tuesday -- areas of Mogadishu that border bases housing peacekeepers from Burundi and Uganda. Before the latest offensives, the new administration had struggled to stamp its control on more than a few districts of the capital and some central regions. The gains came after a second day of heavy battles in the capital and as fighting died down residents emerged from their homes. "I just came out of my house now. Fighting was fierce," said Mohamed Ali, who lives in Dharkenley. "Government forces are everywhere and we do not see any opposition fighters." Residents reported seeing dozens of bodies in the streets of the capital -- Islamist insurgents, civilians and policemen. No confirmed death toll was immediately available. The United Nations' refugee agency said 10,000 residents had fled Mogadishu since last week and the total number of displaced since the upsurge in violence in May was now 70,000. Gunmen kidnapped a Somali journalist on Tuesday to the south of Mogadishu after he went to visit the sprawling refugee camps on the outskirts of the capital. The man seized was Jekey Away, director of Universal Somali TV. Journalists and humanitarian workers are often targeted by gunmen in Somalia. While many are seized for ransoms, several aid workers and reporters have been killed this year. In a bid to recapture more territory outside the capital, Internal Security Minister Omar Hashi Aden went to Baladwayne on Tuesday for the first time since taking office. Residents said he arrived in the capital of Hiran region close to the Ethiopian border in a huge convoy of troops.
Civilians ride in a public transport van as they flee from clashes in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, June 2, 2009. Somali government forces drove Islamist insurgents from two districts of the capital ...
