PHNOM PENH, July 5: Gunshots and explosions echoed across Phnom Penh today as rival government troops clashed northwest of the city but Cambodian second Prime Minister Hun Sen said the fighting did not signal civil war.

The blasts could be heard in the centre of the capital, some five km from the fighting.

The shooting subsided in the afternoon and broke out again before dusk. The explosions were reported near the home of a top general loyal to first Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh.

``We can hear loud explosions. I think they are B-40 rockets coming from the area of Nhiek Bun Chhay's house,'' said a reporter.

The general is Ranariddh's top military adviser.

Witnesses also said troops loyal to Hun Sen appeared to be moving towards a military base controlled by Ranariddh's forces near the airport, about six km (four miles) from the General's home.

The fight was apparently triggered when troops loyal to Ranariddh's rival co-premier, Hun Sen, tried to confiscate weapons from Ranariddh's forces. When the battle at Bantey Anpel village, about 20 kilometers (12miles) west of Phnom Penh's international airport, was over, Ranariddh's troops had laid down their arms and more than 140 had been captured, Hun Sen supporters said.

Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party claimed the defeated troops were in fact former Khmer Rouge rebels who had been recruited by Ranariddh to form a militia force.

On Thursday, Hun Sen's troops carried out a similar operation, disarming about 100 Ranariddh supporters as they were returning to Phnom Penh in a convoy. Their weapons were taken away without a fight.

The soldiers exchanged shots near the base about 12 km northwest of the capital, a military official loyal to Ranariddh said earlier.

``The fighting is starting now. CPP troops have come to our base,'' said the military official inside the base, referring to troops loyal to Hun Sen's Cambodian People's party (CPP), the former communist government.