(Adds young people released, paras 13)
By Tsegaye Tadesse
ADDIS ABABA, April 24 (Reuters) - Ethiopia rejected on Thursday accusations by Amnesty International that its soldiers killed 21 people at a Somali mosque as "lies" and "propaganda".
The rights group said on Wednesday the soldiers, stationed in Somalia to bolster the interim government, had also captured dozens of children in a raid on the Al Hidaaya mosque earlier this week during operations against Islamist insurgents.
It said an imam and several Islamic scholars were among the dead, and that seven victims had their throats slit.
"Amnesty's allegations are unsubstantiated lies and propaganda that they received from Islamic groups in Somalia. Ethiopia has never been involved in such incidents," said Information Ministry spokesman Zemedkun Tekle.
"Ethiopia would have been surprised if Amnesty had said something positive about Ethiopia rather than its usual lies."
Bereket Simon, President Meles Zenawi's special adviser, also criticised the report, noting the human rights group has no presence in Somalia. "It is gathering hearsay and accusing Ethiopia based on false information."
Some moderate Islamist leaders in Somalia have postponed plans to attend U.N.-sponsored peace talks after the mosque incident and an escalation of fighting in Mogadishu.
"BRUTAL KILLINGS"
Residents said four more corpses were found in the coastal capital on Wednesday, bringing the death toll from last weekend's shelling and seizure of small towns by the Islamists to at least 103. The clashes were the worst in recent months.
In a statement, U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes urged protection for civilians and criticised the mosque raid.
"He also strongly condemned the brutal killings that occurred on 20 April at Al Hidaaya mosque in Heliwaa district of Mogadishu, where women and children were present," said a statement from his New York office.
Holmes's statement said heavy artillery was used in residential areas during recent clashes. "Combatants appear to have little regard for the safety of civilians in Mogadishu, where residents have been traumatised by years of violence."
The Islamist insurgents -- remnants of a sharia courts movement ousted from their strongholds in Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia at the end of 2006 -- view the presence of traditional foe Ethiopia in their country as an "occupation".
Somali police said on Thursday they had freed 37 young people, mainly Koranic students, taken in the mosque raid, leaving just a handful still in custody.
Civilians have borne the brunt of the Somali conflict, which a local rights group says killed 6,500 people last year. One million Somalis live as internal refugees.
The government is struggling to assert its authority in Somalia, deprived of an effective central government since the 1991 toppling of Mohamed Siad Barre. (Additional reporting by Barry Malone in Addis Ababa, Aweys Yusuf in Mogadishu, and Andrew Cawthorne in Nairobi) (Writing by Katie Nguyen; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Ibon Villelabeitia) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ )
