Somali News

Government forces backed by Ethiopian troops headed to the outskirts of Dinsoor, 110 kilometres (70 miles) south of Baidoa, the scene of previous clashes, as hundreds of Islamic militia left the capital Mogadishu bound for a second front.

"We are making reinforcements because there could be fighting any time," government commander Ibrahim Batari told AFP from Baidoa, about 250 kilometres (155) northwest of Mogadishu.

"We have taken most of our troops to the frontline to participate in the fighting against the Islamists," he added. "We are determined to defend the government from those who have threatened to invade."

Witnesses said packed Ethiopian military trucks headed to the Islamist-held Dinsoor, where the government reportly suffered setbacks.

"I saw 11 trucks packed with Ethiopian forces heading towards Dinsoor," said Muhideen Ali Mursel, a resident of Baidoa, the only major town in the country still in government hands.

The Islamists responded by deploying hundreds of fighters in Burhakaba, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Baidoa, opening a new front for possible fighting and shattering hopes of an armistice.

"I think there could be fighting any time," Sheikh Mukhta Robow, the deputy defence chief for the Islamists, who have declared a holy war on Ethiopia and vowed to fight and kill peacekeepers due to be deployed by east African countries.

In addition, the Islamic movement banned traffic from Mogadishu to Baidoa in a bid to reduce potential civilian casualities.

"Tension is very high at the frontline so we want to prevent civilians from accessing that area," Robow told AFP.

The Islamists claimed that at least 50 people were killed -- 30 government troops and 20 Islamists -- but there was no independent confirmation.

The government army said it had lost troops, but refused to give figure.

"We lost a lot of men," Batari said.

Mainly Christian Ethiopia, with a large and potentially restive Muslim minority, has said it would help the weak Somalia government fend off attacks and is also wary of the rise on its border of the Islamists, some of whom are accused of links with Al-Qaeda terror network.

Addis Ababa has denied sending thousands of combat troops to Somalia, insisting it only deploy military trainers and advisors.

Many fear a full-scale war could erupt in Somalia and spread throughout the Horn of Africa, drawing in Ethiopia and its arch-foe Eritrea, which denies backing the Islamists.

Somalia has lacked an effective government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Siad Barre and the two-year-old government has failed to exert control across the nation of 10 million people.

In addition to the fighting, conditions in southern Somalia have been worsened by heavy flooding as a result of unusually heavy rains in the troubled Horn of Africa nation.

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