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Ethiopia bombs key Somali airports

Hundreds of foreign fighters arrive in response to call for jihad

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MOGADISHU: Ethiopian fighter jets bombed two main airports in Somalia on Monday, in the first direct attack on the headquarters of an Islamic movement attempting to wrest power from the internationally recognised Government.

The Russian-made jets swept low over the capital at midmorning, dropping two bombs on Mogadishu International Airport, which just recently reopened after the Islamist takeover of the city. Shortly afterward, Baledogle airport, about 100 km outside Mogadishu, was hit, an Islamist soldier said.

``We heard the sound of the jets and then they pounded,'' said Abdi Mudey, a soldier with the Council of Islamic Courts. No reliable casualty reports were immediately available; an Associated Press reporter who arrived shortly after the air strike in Mogadishu saw one wounded woman being taken away.

``The Ethiopian Government is bombing non-civilian targets in Somalia in order to disable and prevent the delivery of arms and supplies to the Islamic Courts,'' said Bereket Simon, an adviser to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Several hours after the bombing in Mogadishu, the Islamic Council's leader, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, arrived at the airstrip in a small plane. He was believed to have been in Eritrea — Ethiopia's main rival.

Ethiopia and the Somali Government have long accused the Islamic Council of recruiting foreign fighters into its ranks.

Borders sealed

Earlier on Monday, the Somali Government started sealing its borders to keep foreign fighters out.

Residents living along Somalia's coast have seen hundreds of foreign Islamist radicals entering the country to answer calls by religious leaders to fight a holy war against Ethiopia.

Attempts to seal the borders are unlikely to have any major immediate effect militarily, particularly along the coast. Somalia's 3,000-km coastline is Africa's longest, and the country has no coast guard or navy.

The U.N. World Food Programme airlifted tonnes of food into Somalia on Monday, but had not yet been notified of any border closings, agency spokesman Peter Smerdon said. Mr. Meles announced on Sunday night that his country was ``forced to enter a war'' with Somalia's Council of Islamic Courts after the group declared holy war on Ethiopia. It was the first time Ethiopia acknowledged its troops were fighting in support of Somalia's Government, even though witnesses were reporting their presence for weeks.

Also on Monday, Somali troops, backed by Ethiopian soldiers, captured a key border town and residents celebrated as Government soldiers headed south in pursuit of fleeing Islamic militiamen, a Somali officer said.

Islamic fighters left the town of Belet Weyne, on the Somali-Ethiopian border along the Shabelle river, overnight after Ethiopian fighter jets bombed Islamic positions on Sunday, residents said.

Heavy artillery and mortar fire continued to echo through the main Government town of Baidoa on Monday. — AP

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