Ethiopian fighter jets bomb two main airports in Somalia

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Ethiopian fighter jets bomb two main airports in Somalia

Last updated at 15:30pm on 25th December 2006



Two Islamic courts vans guard Mogadishu airport after Ethiopia jets bombed it. Click enlarge to see a crater left in the tarmac


Ethiopian jets dominated Somalia's skies today and bombed the country's two main airports while ground troops captured a strategic village, providing Somalia's internationally backed government the military assistance it desperately needs to fend off a powerful Islamic militia.

The Russian-made jets swept low over the capital at midmorning, dropping two bombs on Mogadishu International Airport, which just recently reopened after the Islamic takeover of the city.

The leader of the Islamic militia, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, flew into the airport shortly after the attack; it was not clear if he was an intended target.

Airstrikes also hit Baledogle Airport, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) outside Mogadishu.

"We heard the sound of the jets and then they pounded," said Abdi Mudey, a soldier with Somalia's Council of Islamic Courts, which has seized control of the capital and much of southern Somalia since June.

Somali troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers also drove Islamic forces out of the key border town of Belet Weyne, then headed south Monday in pursuit of fleeing Islamic militiamen, a Somali officer said. Government troops were enforcing a 3pm to 6am curfew.

"Anyone who has a gun but is not wearing a government uniform will be targeted as a terrorist," said Aden Garase, a government soldier who was put in charge of Belet Weyne.

No reliable casualty reports were immediately available; an Associated Press reporter who arrived shortly after the airstrike in Mogadishu saw one wounded woman being taken away.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Sunday that his country was "forced to enter a war" with Somalia's Council of Islamic Courts after the group declared holy war on Ethiopia. The Islamic group, which wants to rule the country by the Quran, has been a source of grave concern by largely Christian Ethiopia.

So far, Ethiopian and Somali troops have used MiG jet fighters and artillery to attack the Islamists, who have no military aircraft and can only return fire with much smaller mortars and recoilless rifles.

But Meles has said he does not intend to keep his forces in Somalia for long, perhaps only a few weeks. He has told visiting dignitaries in Addis Ababa that his goal is to severely damage the courts' military capabilities, take away their sense of invincibility and allow both sides to return to peace talks on even footing.

The Arab League, which has mediated several rounds of talks between the Somali government and the Islamists, called Monday for all parties involved to "immediately hold a comprehensive cease-fire."

Many Somalis are enraged by the idea of Ethiopian involvement here because the countries have fought two wars over their disputed border in the past 45 years. Islamic leaders have repeatedly said they want to incorporate ethnic Somalis living in eastern Ethiopia, northeastern Kenya and Djibouti into a Greater Somalia.

But the Somali government, which has failed to assert any real control since it was formed two years ago with the support of the United Nations, relies on its neighbor's military strength.

The Islamic group's often severe interpretation of Islam raises memories of Afghanistan's Taliban regime, which was ousted by a U.S.-led campaign for harboring Osama bin Laden. The U.S. government says four al-Qaida leaders, believed to be behind the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, have become leaders in the Islamic militia.

Experts fear the conflict in Somalia could engulf the already volatile Horn of Africa. A recent U.N. report said 10 countries have been supplying arms and equipment to both sides of the conflict and using Somalia as a proxy battlefield.

On Monday, the Somali government started closing its borders to keep foreign fighters from joining the Islamic courts. Residents living along Somalia's coast have seen hundreds of foreign Islamic radicals entering Somalia to answer calls by religious leaders to fight a holy war against Ethiopia.

Attempts to seal the border are unlikely to have any major immediate effect on the fighting, particularly along Somalia's 1,860-mile (3,000-kilometer) coastline - the longest in Africa. But the closures could have a chilling effect on humanitarian aid reaching a country where one in five children dies before age 5 from a preventable disease.

The U.N. World Food Program airlifted several tons of food and other aid into Somalia on Monday, but had not yet been notified of any border closings, agency spokesman Peter Smerdon said. Heavy artillery and mortar fire continued to echo through the main government town of Baidoa, about 250 kilometers (140 miles) northwest of Mogadishu, said Mohammed Sheik Ali, a resident reached by telephone. The Islamists have the town surrounded on three sides, but government and Ethiopian troops were attempting to push them back.

Government officials and Islamic militiamen have said hundreds of people have been killed in clashes since Tuesday, but the claims could not be independently confirmed. Aid groups put the death toll in the dozens.

Somalia has not had an effective government since warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, plunging the country into chaos.
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"May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't." -General George S. Patton

Psalm 82-8: Arise, O God, judge the earth, for You inherit all the nations.