Ethiopian helicopter gunships have fired at a market near an insurgent stronghold in the Somali capital. The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says hundreds of insurgents armed with rocket launchers and machine guns are battling Ethiopian troops. Ethiopian tanks are also deployed. Crowds dragged several dead bodies in uniform through the streets. The security crackdown in the south of the city is being billed as a three-day operation to restore order. Meanwhile, Ethiopia says two-thirds of its troops have withdrawn from Somalia. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told parliament the rest of his troops, which are deployed in support of the interim government, would leave in consultation with the African Union. Ethiopian troops helped install the government last December but have been gradually handing over responsibilities to the AU force that was deployed to Mogadishu this month to try and bring stability to the city. Some 1,700 Ugandan troops are in Mogadishu as the advance party of a planned 8,000 strong AU force.