(Adds station reopened, deputy mayor)

By Aweys Yusuf

MOGADISHU, Dec 26 (Reuters) - A Somali radio station said it was shut briefly by Mogadishu's local government on Wednesday for airing an interview with an Islamist insurgent.

"The deputy mayor of Mogadishu has called us this afternoon and said we can go back on air," one of Radio Somaliweyn's directors, Abdul Qabir Mohamed Farah, told Reuters.

Deputy Mayor Abdifitah Ibrahim denied the story, telling Reuters he had "no knowledge of the radio being closed or re-opened".

The station had said earlier Mayor Mohamed Dheere ordered it shut indefinitely because he was furious over an interview with Ahmed Mohamed Qare, a member of the Islamist movement routed from Mogadishu by allied Somali-Ethiopian troops last year.

A local journalists' union confirmed and condemned the closure.

Rights groups accused Dheere of gagging the press when he issued regulations last month forbidding journalists from running interviews with insurgents.

The Somali government has cracked down on the media, accusing them of undermining national security, and arrested some. Seven reporters have been killed in Somalia since January. (Writing by Tim Cocks; editing by Stephen Weeks)

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