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Ethiopian jets bomb Somali airports in attack on Islamists

Ethiopian fighter jets bombed two main airports in Somalia yesterday, including Mogadishu International Airport in the capital, in the first direct attack on the headquarters of an Islamic movement attempting to wrest power from the internationally recognized government.

The Russian-made jets swept low over the capital in the morning, dropping two bombs on Mogadishu's airport, which just reopened after the Islamic takeover of the city. Shortly afterward, Baledogle Airport, about 100km outside Mogadishu, was hit, an Islamic soldier said.

"We heard the sound of the jets and then they bombed," said Abdi Mudey, a soldier with the Council of Islamic Courts.

No reliable casualty reports were immediately available. A reporter who arrived shortly after the airstrike 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 here 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.

Earlier yesterday, the Somali government started sealing its borders to keep foreign fighters out. Residents living along Somalia's coast have seen hundreds of foreign Islamic 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, particularly along the coast. Somalia's 3,000km coastline is Africa's longest, and the country has no coast guard or navy.

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, although witnesses have been reporting their presence for weeks.

Many Somalis are enraged by the idea of Ethiopian involvement here as the countries have fought two wars over their disputed border in the past 45 years.

Islamic court leaders have repeatedly said they want to incorporate ethnic Somalis living in eastern Ethiopia, northeastern Kenya and Djibouti into a proposed Greater Somalia.

But the Somali government relies on its neighbor's military strength. And Ethiopia, a largely Christian nation, fears the emergence of a neighboring Islamic state.

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

The Islamic group's often severe interpretation of Islam raises memories of Afghanistan's Taliban regime, which was ousted by a US-led campaign for harboring Osama bin Laden.
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