By Aweys Yusuf

MOGADISHU, Nov 19 (Reuters) - U.N. ships carrying aid to Somalia docked under French naval escort on Monday as part of a new strategy to deter pirates threatening food shipments to Somalis suffering from conflict and drought.

The shipments arrived against a background of spiralling violence in the Horn of Africa nation, where at least four people in a refugee settlement were killed when a landmine blast prompted government soldiers to open fire on Sunday.

Aid workers and witnesses in the port of Merka, 100 km (60 miles) south of the capital Mogadishu, said two ships chartered by the World Food Programme (WFP) were offloading food supplies with a French warship standing guard offshore.

"I can see two WFP ships offloading food that include maize, beans, porridge and cooking oil. I can also see a huge warship somewhere off the coast," witness Yusuf Mohamed told Reuters by telephone from the port.

A WFP official there who declined to give his name said the ships were the Kenyan-owned Rozen and Semlow, sister ships that in the last three years have been seized and repeatedly attacked by pirates while carrying WFP cargoes.

"Some others are expected to dock at Mogadishu seaport next week and they will be guarded by French Navy ships," the WFP official in Merka said. WFP had no immediate comment.

UN officials say an estimated 1.2 million Somalis are affected by food shortages, exacerbated by the deepening conflict and cyclical droughts.

Piracy is rampant off the coast, one of the most dangerous in the world.

REFUGEES KILLED

In Elasha, an impromptu refugee settlement 20 km (12 miles) south of the Mogadishu, witnesses said that government soldiers opened fire on Sunday in reaction to an explosion and killed at least four people.

"A roadside bomb blast targeted a government battlewagon passing by the road to Mogadishu, wounding two soldiers, but the troops opened fire and killed four civilians instantly," resident Bashir Abdulahi told Reuters by phone on Monday.

Thousands of families have fled to Elasha, which means water well in Somali, during heavy fighting between insurgents and government troops and their Ethiopian military allies.

"I am missing four of my children. We ran into the bush when we were frightened by the loud sound of the blast and the crossfire that flew over us," said Asho Ahmed, a mother of eight who was frantically seeking her offspring.

Rights groups accuse Ethiopian and Somali troops and the insurgents of shooting indiscriminately at civilians, who are most often caught in reprisal attacks or military sweeps to flush out rebels hiding among the populace.

Thousands have been killed by mortar, rocket attacks and fire fights since Somalia's Ethiopian-backed interim government toppled Islamist fighters over the New Year, sparking an insurgency that has forced hundreds of thousands to flee.

The outflow of refugees has strained communities around Somalia, raising fears of more violence caused by competition for scarce resources -- further aggravated by the difficulty aid agencies have in reaching the affected people. (Editing by Bryson Hull and Giles Elgood)

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