Posted on 12/26/2006 4:10:50 PM PST by jdm
ADDIS ABABA: Somalia’s Islamists are in full retreat after Ethiopian airstrikes and a ground offensive that have killed up to 1,000 of the religious movement’s fighters, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Tuesday.
“A joint Somali government and Ethiopian force has broken the back of the international terrorist forces... These forces are in full retreat,” Meles told reporters in Addis Ababa, adding that up to 1,000 Islamist fighters had been killed.
“A few are Somali but the majority are foreigners,” he said of the dead.
Addis Ababa has vowed to protect Somalia’s weak interim government from rival Islamists based in Mogadishu. A week of artillery and mortar duels between the two sides has spiralled into open war that both sides say has killed hundreds.
Meles said most fighters of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) had fled to their home areas. He said Ethiopian forces were now hunting down troops from his arch-foe Eritrea, which he accuses of supporting the Islamists.
“The Ethiopian Air Force (will) further intensify pounding selected targets” in its lawless neighbour, the Information Ministry said in a statement, adding that it had “inflicted heavy damages on institutions” controlled by Islamists.
“The only forces we are pursuing are Eritreans who are hiding behind the skirts of Somali women, and terrorist mujahideen,” Meles said.
Ethiopia says the SICC has recruited foreign jihadists, and that a handful of almost 300 prisoners taken after one battle for a central Somali town held British passports.
Meles said he had sent between 3,000 and 4,000 Ethiopian troops into Somalia, but denied they were occupiers. He said it was a small force, but carried a lot of firepower.
“Our military is skirting the towns and attacking only military bases,” he said.
“We have already completed half our mission, and as soon as we finish the second half, our troops will leave Somalia.”
He said he had information 3,000 wounded had been taken to hospital in the Islamist stronghold Mogadishu. But he said there were few civilian casualties because most of the fighting had taken place away from settlements.
Somalia’s internationally backed government called on the SICC to surrender and promised them amnesty if they lay down their weapons and stop opposing the government, spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said from Baidoa, the seat of the government.
Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, leader of the Council of Islamic Courts’ executive body, said the group had asked its troops to withdraw from some areas.
“The war is entering a new phase,” he said. “We will fight Ethiopia for a long, long time and we expect the war to go everyplace.”
On Monday, fighting raged for a seventh day near Daynunay, close to the town of Baidoa. Witnesses reported truck-loads of Ethiopian wounded being evacuated, and Islamist soldiers were said to be reciting the holy Quran as they went into battle.
A MiG fighter struck Mogadishu’s international airport with machinegun fire soon after dawn, airport managing director Abdirahim Adan said.
The pigs on the run.
Oh man, that is bad! But stranger things could happen.
paper tiger!!! Bwhahahaha!!!!!
Considering the fact that he's already telling muslims to stand for "their rights" and to be "true muslims", I suspect I'm not far off.
They must have some pretty big hospitals.
Or a pretty loose definition of what one is.
What's the story on these 300 prisoners? I thought Jihadists were expected to fight to the death.
I think we've all pretty much figured that out, dickhead.
Your war is against civilains. You apparently run like pussies when it's against an army.
I guess they are taken to the next mosque, where wise and kind imams tender them, while whispering the words of the quran in their ears... that will get them up in their boots... eh... bare feet.
Take out the 3,000 wounded and chase the rest down. This war like our war was won too easily, They will simply go underground and kill you every chance they get. They must be destroyed to the point where they havent the will to fight.
The Ethipians will not be playing by European Pansy rules, and as a result, in the end, the lives of tens of thousands of Somali women and hildren will be spared. Our current effort in Iraq is more bloody, for Iraqis, than it needs to be because we make war by "we want to feel good about ourselves" rules (WWTFGAO rules), which give the throat slitters and backpack bombers carte blanche.
I wouldn't be too surprised if many of the 300 prisoners didn't make it to the POW camp and those that did will wish they hadn't.
I really hope Ethiopia go in deep and kick ass.
Is Britain Becoming a breeding ground for terrorists?
Make it 150,000 I'll be pleased. I guess every journey begins with a step.
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