(AFP) — Media groups and journalists in the Somali capital were ordered Wednesday to register with authorities or be barred from the lawless Somali capital, where the government is battling insurgents.

In the latest media crackdown, security forces ordered Mogadishu-based Radio Simba and Radio Banadir off the air on Tuesday, a day after a similar fate befell Radio Shabelle.

Media watchdogs bristled with anger, saying the government has moved to strangle independent media. 

"I call on media houses and newspapers to register within 30 days in order to keep working in Mogadishu, otherwise they will not be allowed to operate," mayor Mohamed Omar Habeb said in a statement. 

The mayor's office said the order applies to radio stations, television channels, newspapers and journalists representing foreign media in the seaside capital, where Ethiopia-backed Somali forces are battling Islamist insurgents. 

Authorities have accused the independent media of fanning conflict in the capital, notably interviewing anti-government elements, broadcasting propaganda and involvement in insurgency. 

Ethiopia, whose forces are fighting alongside government troops in Somalia, said Somali media was awash with propaganda. 

"Some local media in Somalia played an unconstructive role through disseminating unjustified information about existing realities in Mogadishu to the outside world," said Teferi Melesse, a foreign affairs official in Addis Ababa. 

But global right groups have dismissed the charges and urged President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed to ensure the safety of journalists. Eight reporters have been killed in Somalia this year and dozens arrested, ambushed or robbed. 

"Any time the authorities in Mogadishu hear unwelcome news of the fighting in the city they send troops crashing through the door of the radio station responsible," said Joel Simon, the executive director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). 

"This is crude and unacceptable censorship. Radio Shabelle, Radio Banadir and Radio Simba provide a vital service for all Somalis.

They must be allowed back on air." Said Dahir Alasow Chairman of Somali Association Journalists 

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the government was flouting its own regulations and leaving millions of Somalis in the dark. 

So far this year, Somalia ranks as the second deadliest country worldwide after Iraq for journalists, according to CPJ. 

UN special envoy to Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah said it was "unacceptable" that attacks against journalists went unpunished and asked Somali authorities to reverse the registration orders.