Breaking News,Heavy fighting has broken out on at least two fronts near the weak Somali interim

Source BBC News


The government is getting military help from Ethiopia

Heavy fighting has broken out on at least two fronts near the weak Somali interim government's base in Baidoa.
A deadline from Islamists for Ethiopia to withdraw troops from Somalia or face "major attacks" expired on Tuesday.

Residents say pro-government forces and the Islamic militia exchanged mortar shells at Daynunay, 20km from Baidoa.

A European Union envoy was in Baidoa to meet officials. There are fears an all-out war would plunge the entire Horn of Africa region into crisis.

The EU's development commissioner, Louis Michel, has now travelled on to the capital, Mogadishu, to meet Union of Islamic Court (UIC) leaders on a mission to get peace talks to resume.


Clashes

"I can confirm to you that heavy fighting has already started around several front line areas," Islamic commander Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim Bilal told AFP news agency.

Government commander Ibrahim Batari accused the Islamists of mounting the attack. "There is shelling everywhere... our forces are facing Islamists, hell is going on," he said.

Islamic militias have attacked us and the fighting is continuing

"I can hear sounds of bullets, rockets from the side where the defence lines of the Islamic courts and the government are," a resident in the government's military base in Daynunay, southeast of Baidoa, told Reuters news agency.

Islamist spokesman Abdirahin Ali Mudey says the base is now in UIC hands, which residents talking to the BBC confirm.

Meanwhile, clashes have broken out in Moode Moode - a village off the Dayunay-Burhakaba road.

"Islamic militias have attacked us and the fighting is continuing," the government's deputy defence minister, Salad Ali Jelle, told Associated Press news agency about the Moode Moode fighting.

There is also heavy fighting and at least one death being reported near Idale, some 60km (37 miles) south Baidoa, after skirmishes on Tuesday evening.

"Last evening, a reconnaissance team from the government and the Islamic courts clashed [in Idale]," Mr Jelle told Reuters on Wednesday.

"But this morning, ground troops from both sides exchanged mortars from a distance."

'Dialogue'

The BBC's Adam Mynott in Baidoa says the town is in a precarious situation, with guns seen everywhere.

There are soldiers armed with AK-47s, technicals - pick-up trucks mounted with heavy weapons - and Ethiopian troops at Baidoa airport, he says.

Mr Michel has held talks with Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi and MPs.

On Tuesday, Ethiopian Information Minister Birhan Hailu told the BBC that his country was always ready for dialogue, but said the Islamists were not willing to talk with the transitional government.

"We don't have troops in Somalia, but as we have said so many times, we have a limited number of military advisers to support the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia.

"The Ethiopian government is always ready to have peace talks with anybody in Somalia, and we wish a peaceful solution to the problem in Somalia."

War

Earlier this week, the UIC appeared to backtrack on an ultimatum for Ethiopians troops to leave Somalia or face a holy war.

UIC spokesman Abdi-Rahiin Ali Mudey said the Islamists would not attack the Ethiopians or Baidoa, but wanted talks.

On Saturday, Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said the movement was prepared for "dialogue" with Ethiopia.

In Yemen, he announced a deal with the speaker of the Somali parliament to resume talks after they collapsed last month.

But other Islamist officials were being reported on Tuesday as saying they are "now in the last stages of preparing for full-scale war" against Ethiopian forces inside Somalia.

The government says talks could resume if the Islamists stopped making threats. Last week, interim President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed ruled out any further talks.

Islamic leaders deny accusations of al-Qaeda links.