Fighting between Somali soldiers has left at least ten people dead in the capital city, Mogadishu.

At least 15 others, including both soldiers and civilians, were wounded in the clashes on Monday.

Police and eyewitnesses said that a gun battle erupted between the soldiers when some of the troops tried to stop the others from distributing food aid coupons to internally displaced people.

"Women and children are among the fatalities," police representative Abdi Hassan said.

"The commanders responsible for this horrible violence should face justice," a senior security official said on condition of anonymity.

“Security forces are investigating the incident,” the source added.

Widespread militancy by the al-Shabaab Takfiri group across Somalia and droughts and flooding in different parts of the east African state have pushed thousands of people to take refuge in the Mogadishu area.

Somalia has been struggling to reconstitute its 8,000-member army, which collapsed with the government back in 1991, plunging the country into over two decades of chaos after warlords overthrew the country's former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.