Ahmed Da' i, the district commissioner and apparent target of the assault just after dawn prayers, confirmed the incident and said bodies of attackers "littered the streets," the BBC reported.

The raid came on the day Ethiopian troops were to begin leaving Somalia, under terms of a recent U.N.-brokered peace deal. Observers said there was no sign the withdrawal had begun.

Ethiopian troops were sent to the country two years ago to help the transitional government oust Islamists from Mogadishu and surrounding areas. However, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf says Islamists control most of southern Somalia.