MOGADISHU, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Media groups condemned on Tuesday the closure of a Somali radio station in the latest government crackdown on journalists during an Islamist-led insurgency that is rocking the Horn of Africa nation.

The government ordered independent local broadcaster Shabelle Radio off air on Monday and briefly detained two of its senior staff. The station has been periodically closed and frequently criticised by authorities throughout the year.

Shabelle denies officials' accusations of favouring the Islamists in its coverage, and has been criticised by them too.

Paris-based watchdog Reporters Without Borders said Somali authorities' "contempt" for independent media had reached a new level with Shabelle's closure.

"Silencing one of the capital's few news sources is tantamount to blindfolding its population and leaving it to face the violence in its neighbourhoods alone," the group said in a statement.

Somali officials gave no reason for the closure, but deny accusations of harassing local media.

Local journalists, who take daily risks to cover the conflict in Somalia, were also angry.

"This is an absolutely intolerable action and in contrary to free press," Dahir Alasow, chairman of Associated Somali Journalists, said in a statement.

Shabelle was still off air on Tuesday morning, a Reuters correspondent in Mogadishu said.

On its Web site, Shabelle said it had received no explanation for the closure, no date for re-opening, and "no comment from senior government authorities on this terrible action against freedom of speech."

Shabelle said it was the eighth time the government of President Abdullahi Yusuf had closed it. "There has been pressure, intimidation and death threats to journalists from the government and other people," it added.

With foreign correspondents largely staying out of Somalia due to insecurity, local reporters have been left to tell the world of an insurgency against Ethiopian-backed government forces wracking Mogadishu and other parts of the country.

Eight reporters have died this year, mainly in targeted killings by unknown gunmen in cases yet to be investigated.

The violence has worsened in the last week, with more than 70 people killed by fighting in Mogadishu and tens of thousands driven from their homes to become internal refugees.

Somalia has been without proper central rule since warlords toppled former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. (Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Sami Aboudi)

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