Reuters, Mogadishu
Somali Islamists test fired rockets yesterday and prepared for war with the government as the United States warned of possible suicide attacks against neighbouring countries.
Tension has mounted rapidly in recent weeks and rose another notch after this week's failure to bring together the Islamists, who control the capital and most of southern Somalia, and the weak, western-backed interim government for peace talks.
Both sides' fighters are now facing off just 30km (19 miles) from the administration's sole outpost, Baidoa town. The Islamists say they are also facing thousands of Ethiopian troops who had invaded to prop up government forces.
"The onus is on us to start the fight. We will be the first to strike," one senior Islamist commander, Maalim Hashi Ahmed, told Reuters by telephone.
"If someone takes your shirt, it's upon you to repossess it. That is what we plan to do," he said. "Ethiopia has invaded us so it is our responsibility to remove them from our land. We intend to carry out this obligation as soon as possible."
Residents of Buur Hakaba, a strategic hill town near the frontlines, said hundreds more Islamist fighters were deployed overnight, and fired heavy weapons early on Friday.
"The Islamic troops tested missiles this morning," one local, Yusuf Hassan, told Reuters. "It was really terrifying.
DAMN
writing in mine language today 
