Fighting Breaks Out Near Baidoa

[AbdiWahab252]

Fighting said breaking out near Somali govt base


By Sahal Abdulle
Friday, December 08, 2006

MOGADISHU, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Fighting broke out on Friday between Islamist fighters and government troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers near the government base in Baidoa, a witness and top Islamist said.

The witness told Reuters he could see fighting going on in Safar Noolay, 30 km (19 miles) southwest of Baidoa along the defensive line the Islamists have set up to encircle roughly half of the only town the government controls.

"I see huge smoke clouds and I am hearing artillery fire and small guns exchanging fire," witness Adan Isak Ali, who said he was located about 3 km (1.5 miles) southwest of the fighting, told Reuters by telephone.

Ali told Reuters he saw Ethiopian and Somali troops heading in the direction of the Islamist defence line. There was no independent confirmation of the fighting or word of any casualties.

Earlier, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a top leader of the Somali Islamic Courts Council (SICC), told a crowd gathered in the capital, Mogadishu, after Friday prayers that he had just heard a report of an attack by the Ethiopians and government.

The government could not be reached for comment.

Ahmed placed the location in Dinsoor, located roughly 100 km (60 miles) southwest of Baidoa on the same road as Safar Nooley.

"The news reaching us from Dinsoor indicates that Ethiopians have attacked Dinsoor," Ahmed said.

The SICC has declared holy war on Ethiopia, which it says has invaded Somalia to prop up the interim government.

Ethiopia has consistently denied it has any soldiers, besides a few hundred military trainers, inside Somalia. But security experts estimate there are between 5,000 and 10,000 inside Somalia, along with heavy weapons and armoured vehicles.

Many fear that any conflict between the SICC, backed by Eritrea, and the interim government could erupt into a war that spreads across the Horn of Africa and possibly further south.

Source: Reuters, Dec 08, 2006

[Basra-]

Yiipiiee Eryaah!

[fagash_killer]

gheerdiid is the only man with balls

Last Updated Thurs, Dec, 07 2006,08:30 am--Mogadishu Somalia

Somalia: Islamist fighters and Ethiopian backed militias clash in Bandiradley
Aweys Osman Yusuf
Mogadishu 07, Dec.06 ( Sh.M.Network) –Fighting between the Islamic Courts fighters in Bandiradley and Abdi Qeybdid’s militias backed by Ethiopian and the autonomous regional government of Puntland troops has occurred in Sadeh Higle, a settlement that lies between Bandiradley and Galkayo where both troops exchanged motor shells and small fire.

Shabcan Abdi Anshur, an Islamist officer in the area, has told Shabelle Radio by telephone that heavy weapons were used in the skirmishes that lasted hours. He claimed they killed number of QeybdidÂ’s militias.

Casualties of both sides cannot be verified.

Islamist fighters and Ethiopian backed militias loyal to warlord Abdi Qeybdid, who was evicted from the capital on July 11 after deadly battles in which more than hundred fifty people, most of them civilian population, died, are facing off near Bandiradley, about 60 km away from Galkayo which is under the administration of Puntland.

The news comes as Islamic Courts fighters in Hiran province, central Somalia were put on a high alert after they felt an Ethiopian military movement along the border with Ethiopia. Islamic Courts in the region have opened an office that would register young people who voluntarily want to take part in a Jihad or holy war against foreign troops in the country.

Around 100 young people were registered as UN Security council resolution that alleviated the arms embargo on Somalia allows regional peacekeeping forces to be deployed in the country.


Islamic Courts vehemently rebuffed foreign troopÂ’s deployment in Somalia, vowing they will fight and defeat the African peacekeeping forces, known as IGASOM that would enter Somalia to train and protect the fragile transitional government based in Baidoa.

Shabelle Media Network Somalia
E-mail us: info@shabelle.net

[AbdiWahab252]

The war has started up.

[Nabeela]

It is OVER for the TFG.

[Enemy_Of_Mad_Mullah]

RIP TFG {it rhymes}