The car-sized shell hole in the Hotel Fardoow's second floor may deter some guests, but business is now returning warily to Mogadishu's commercial heart after months of bloody battles.

"Things were bad here, and the fighting was too heavy," said Abdi Ali Nur, a store owner next to the hotel in Bakara, the sprawling network of narrow streets that make up the war-torn Somali capital's largest and most important market.

"Everything had to close," added Nur, who returned last week for the first time in six months to survey the damage to his store, after fleeing an offensive by African Union-backed Somali government troops against Islamist rebels.

Bakara was for many months the epicentre of violence in one of the world's most dangerous capitals, forcing people to flee and to shut or relocate their business.

A ripped corrugated iron roofing sheet from his store gently creaks in the warm breeze from off the Indian Ocean, glittering deep blue in the distance.

"God willing, the businesses will be soon able to return," Nur said, adding that his store selling soft drinks had not been ransacked by rebels while he was away.

Effective control of a resurgent Bakara would be a major achievement for the weak Western-backed transitional government, which is slowly trying to impose its control over the famine-struck city.

Bakara was, until a surprise pullout earlier this month, a key stronghold of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab rebels, netting the insurgents up to $60 million a year, according to a recent UN report.

Business people are scouting out the chances of opening up again, but almost all shops -- including stores selling electronic goods to restuarants and money exchange bureaus -- remain boarded up.

"Bakara was the market where the Shebab were making money from, that sustained their operations for all these years," said Paddy Ankunda, a spokesman for the African Union mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

Piles of sandbags blocking streets mark the slow progress of AMISOM troops into the area, while deep ditches dug into the roads show Shebab defences.

Some buildings are almost entirely flattened, while remaining walls are pockmarked with bullet holes.

"The Shebab ran away from it, they couldn't stand and fight to defend it," added Ankunda. "I don't think they can take it back."

Opening up Mogadishu's markets could also boost the economy and help ease soaring food prices, currently pricing out starving thousands braving violence in Mogadishu in a desperate search for aid.

Some 3.2 million people in Somalia need urgent "lifesaving assistance" due to drought and insecurity, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has warned.

But while Barkara may no longer be a daily frontline, tensions remain high.

Businessmen there are reluctant to talk, saying they are fearful of reprisal by remaining Shebab insurgents.

Despite abandoning permanent street positions, the rebels said they changed military tactics that many fear will mean guerrilla or terrorist-style attacks.

"The Shebab are still around," said one businessman, visiting Bakara to check on his store. "It is quiet now but we don't know what may happen."

A distant rattle of gunfire echoes in the street.

"We want to open the businesses, but things are still not certain," said another.

At the weekend, the AU troops said they found 137 artillery shells at a disused house in Bakara, which the force's spokesman said were stockpiled for use in making improvised bombs, as insurgents do not have weapons to fire them.

But a thumping engine sound of a generator in the network of streets suggests that others too are slowly moving back into Bakara.

For those fleeing into the city in hope of food and support, any potential improvements in the security situation is welcomed.

"We have nothing," said Huwa Moalim, who fled the famine-hit Lower Shabelle region, travelling for six days to reach the over-crowded camps of makeshift tents springing up in bombed out parts of the city.

"I have no money left to buy food from the markets, it is all too expensive," she added, cradling her crying baby son.

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