Ethiopian jets pound Somalia's Islamists

Baidoa: Ethiopian planes defending Somalia's weak interim government pounded Islamist fighters in Somalia yesterday in an escalating conflict that threatens to engulf the Horn of Africa.

Ethiopian Information Minister Berhan Hailu said the operation targeted several fronts, including Dinsoor, Bandiradley, Baladwayne and the town of Buur Hakaba - close to the administration's encircled south-central base Baidoa.

Berhan gave no details but Somali witnesses said Ethiopian planes droned overhead dropping bombs and firing missiles as Islamist and government forces battled for a sixth day.

Islamists also accused Ethiopia of using MiG warplanes and helicopters.

It was the first use of airstrikes and Ethiopia's first public admission of its military involvement in Somalia, whose government is surrounded by fighters of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) backed by mortars and machineguns.

'Self-defence'

"After too much patience, the Ethiopian government has taken self-defensive measures and started counter-attacking the aggressive extremist forces of the Islamic Courts and foreign terrorist groups," Berhan told Reuters.

Diplomats fear Addis Ababa's announcement may have touched off a war ensnaring Horn of Africa rivals Ethiopia and Eritrea.

They also fear it may attract foreign jihadists answering the Islamists' call for holy war against Christian-led Ethiopia and possibly trigger suicide bombings in east Africa.

Ali Dahir Horow, a resident in Baladwayne, 300 km north of Mogadishu, said one airstrike killed two people. "People started fleeing once the planes fired at the town," he said, adding most missiles nearby hit Ceel Jaale, where many people escaped to after last month's heavy flooding.

The UN World Food Programme said it dropped 14 tonnes of aid to flood-affected villages in southern Somalia, shortly after reports of the airstrikes.

Another UN agency said the conflict would have disastrous consequences for efforts to help 1.4 million people also suffering from the floods.

Both sides said they have killed hundreds since the fighting began on Tuesday, although aid agencies report dozens of dead.

In the Islamist port city of Kismayu, hundreds of women and children waved goodbye to 1,000 men who had volunteered for the frontline. Dressed in a ragtag of fatigues, the men sped off in camouflage-painted trucks to the chants of "Victory is ours".

In Mogadishu, women and children gathered in a market to badger men to join the war. "They told me to wear their clothes if I will not go to war," said Abdi Rashid.