Wednesday, December 20, 2006
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AFP) - Heavy fighting erupted on Wednesday between Somalia's powerful Islamists and Ethiopian-backed government troops on several fronts, pitching the country closer to a full-scale war, both sides said.
"I can confirm to you that heavy fighting has already started around several front line areas," Islamic commander Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim Bilal has said.
"There is heavy fighting which I think could result in many casualties," he added.
Government commander Ibrahim Batari confirmed the fighting, accusing the Islamists of mounting the attack. "There is shelling everywhere...our forces are facing Islamists, hell is going on," he said.
"I can't tell you the casualty but there is fighting everywhere today," he added.
Fighting erupted overnight on Tuesday in Idale, a trading post about 60km south of the seat of government in Baidoa, two hours after a seven-day deadline the Islamists gace the Ethiopian to pull out or face major attacks.
The government said its forces had defeated the Islamists, who stormed the town overnight on Tuesday, sparking artillery duels that claimed at least 12 fighters' lives although the toll could not be independently confirmed.
Commanders said the fighting had spread to Mode Mode, a key stronghold of the Islamists, east of Baidoa.
The Islamists, who control swathes of southern and central Somalia and are accused of links to al-Qeada, have already declared a holy war on Ethiopian forces and claimed first blood in recent skirmishes with Addis Ababa troops.
Ethiopia has sent several hundred military trainers and advisers to help the Somali government, but denies widespread reports it has deployed thousands of combat troops to Somalia to forestall a feared Islamist advance towards Baidoa, the only city held by the transitional administration.
Addis Ababa said it backed a peaceful resolution to conflict, which has compounded the misery of millions of Somalia already affected by flooding across the Horn of Africa nation.
Analysts have warned that an all-out war in Somalia would engulf the whole Horn of Africa region, drawing in Ethiopia's arch-foe Eritrea, as both countries are accused of fighting a proxy war in the lawless country.
Somalia has lacked an effective administration since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and the two-year-old government has failed to exert control across the impoverished nation of 10 million people.
Source: AFP, Dec 20, 2006