Muslims urged to join war on Ethiopia

Somali Islamists urged foreign Muslim fighters yesterday to join their "holy war" against Ethiopia as Islamist forces and pro-Somali government troops fired artillery and rockets across a frontline for a fifth day.

"Our country is open to Muslims worldwide. Let them fight in Somalia and wage jihad, and God willing, attack Addis Ababa," defence chief Yusuf Mohamed Siad 'Inda'ade' said in the Islamists' first threat to take the fight to Ethiopia's capital.

Both sides claim to have killed hundreds since fighting began on Tuesday, while aid agencies say dozens have died. The most sustained fighting to date between the two sides has heightened fears of a major regional war that would ensnare Horn of Africa rivals Ethiopia and Eritrea and trigger possible suicide bombings in east Africa. The Islamists accuse Christian-led Ethiopia, a key US ally in its war on terrorism, of invading Somalia and deny claims by the US that the group is led by an al Qaeda cell.

"We told the world to stop this problem," Inda'ade, a hardliner known for belligerent rhetoric, told reporters in the Islamist stronghold of Mogadishu. "We told them to do something before it becomes a blazing fire that would engulf the region."

Escalating tension prompted medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières to withdraw its international personnel, although local staff were still running MSF's programmes.

"The operations are ongoing and we're ready to take war wounded from either side," MSF head of mission for Somalia, Dave Michalski, told Reuters.