Somali troops, aided by Ethiopian soldiers, have battled Islamic
fighters

Two local Somalis and two foreign aid workers have been killed by a
roadside bomb near the southern port of Kismayo, witnesses have said.

The aid workers who died in the explosion on Monday are from the medical
aid group Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF), a witness said.

"A roadside bomb blast targeted an MSF-Holland car, killing two
foreigners, one Kenyan and the other a white man, and a Somali driver
and a Somali journalist who was passing by on the road," witness Hussein
Abdi said.

A local employee of MSF-Holland, who asked to remain anonymous, said
that the victims were one European, one Kenyan and two Somali.

Kismayo, a key port, is under the control of the local clan leaders, not
Somalia's interim government.

The interim government has fought a year-long battle with Islamic
fighters in the capital Mogadishu.

The government and its Ethiopian allies have been frequently targeted by
roadside bombs and ambushes.

During a two-week offensive in late 2006 and early 2007, Ethiopian and
Somali forces battled the opposition fighters near Kismayo and further
south, towards the Kenyan border.

Islamic fighters have threatened to launch attacks in Kismayo as part of
an attempt to establish Islamic rule across Somalia.