Somalia’s Islamist al-Shebaab rebels warned Ethiopia yesterday that they would “break the necks” of their troops inside Somalia, a day after several hundred soldiers crossed into the war-torn country.
“Soldiers of our enemy, the black colonialists of Ethiopia, made some movements into our region on Saturday, but they do not scare us,” said Sheikh Yusuf Ali Ugas, the insurgent group’s commander for the Hiran region.
“We will break the necks of the invaders … Our troops are ready for anything, if the Ethiopian enemy try to attack us,” Ugas added, speaking on the al-Qaeda-linked group’s radio al-Andalus.
Convoys of Ethiopian troops in trucks and armored vehicles entered southern and central Somalian regions, local elders said on Saturday, although Addis Ababa has denied all reports.
“We shall defeat them and fight them any way we can,” Ugas said. “The Ethiopian attack is a plan to oppose the implementation of Shariah law in Somalia by the enemies of our Muslim nation.”
Small numbers of Ethiopian forces have been reported operating in Somalian border regions in the recent past, but witnesses said the scale of troop movements was far larger this time.
Troop convoys were also reported have entered the south of Somalia after crossing through Kenya, which shares borders with both nations.
“I have seen as many as 20 trucks full of Ethiopian soldiers entering Somalia,” said Idris Kasim, a resident of the Kenyan-Somalian border village of Bulahawa.
Another convoy of 15 trucks were reported to have crossed nearby. The numbers of troops reported suggest that Addis Ababa could be making its first large-scale incursion since it invaded Somalia in 2006 with US backing.
It pulled out three years later after sparking a bloody uprising against its forces and failing to restore order in its lawless neighbor, which has lacked a functioning government for two decades.
However, Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman Dina Mufti on Saturday dismissed the reports outright, saying there were “absolutely no troops in Somalia.”
Hardline al-Shebaab insurgents control much of southern Somalia, but are battling both the Western-backed government in Mogadishu and Kenyan troops in the far south, who crossed the border last month to attack rebel strongholds.
Ethiopian troops were seen close to the al-Shebaab-held town of Beledweyne, about 30km into Somalia.
Ethiopian soldiers were also seen about 50km inside Somalia in the central Galgudud region.
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