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Up to 1,000 Somalis [Islamic terrorists] dead in Ethiopia offensive [Islamists are in full retreat]
Pakistan Daily Times ^ | Dec 26, 2006

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.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: islam; islamists; muslim; somalia; terrorists
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To: BW2221
"How about if George Bush steps down, John Howard (Australia's Prime Minister) takes over and we hire the Ethiopian generals to manage the War on Terror?"

My compliments...you have been paying attention.

21 posted on 12/26/2006 4:36:45 PM PST by blam
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To: taxesareforever

Good! I hope that they keep them on the run.


22 posted on 12/26/2006 4:37:30 PM PST by sport
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To: jdm
Up to 1,000 Somalis [Islamic terrorists] dead in Ethiopia offensive

What's that line about a bus full of lawyers going over a cliff?

Oh, yeah: "it's a good start." 

23 posted on 12/26/2006 4:40:58 PM PST by Phsstpok (Often wrong, but never in doubt)
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To: sport
Good! I hope that they keep them on the run.

I hope they catch the Islamofascists and take no prisoners. Imagine a world without Islam.

24 posted on 12/26/2006 4:47:19 PM PST by Retief
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To: cripplecreek

yep


25 posted on 12/26/2006 4:49:15 PM PST by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
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To: blam

Then put in Bibi Netanyahu as Sec. of Defense and John Bolton as Sec. of State. ;)


26 posted on 12/26/2006 4:51:10 PM PST by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
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To: blam
Is Britain Becoming a breeding ground for terrorists?

I seem to recall a lot of forward planning for 911 was done in London.

27 posted on 12/26/2006 4:51:50 PM PST by LoneRangerMassachusetts (The only good Mullah is a dead Mullah. The only good Mosque is the one that used to be there.)
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To: taxesareforever

Anyone in the US House of Liberals taking notes?


28 posted on 12/26/2006 4:53:10 PM PST by ExTexasRedhead
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To: jdm

Only 1,399,999,000 to go.


29 posted on 12/26/2006 4:58:21 PM PST by truth_seeker
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To: jdm
Islamists don't do well against air power. Good thing someone figured that out.
30 posted on 12/26/2006 4:59:05 PM PST by BallyBill (Serial Hit-N-Run poster)
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To: jdm
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.

Ethiopia is with us...

It's a start.

31 posted on 12/26/2006 5:00:47 PM PST by EGPWS
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To: cripplecreek

Follow me for I am Osama's inside man!

32 posted on 12/26/2006 5:10:11 PM PST by EGPWS
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To: BallyBill

They don't do well when they are not hiding behind women and children. They are like cock roaches running for cover..

How long do you think Hez'NoBalls' would have lasted against the Israelis if they were not hiding behind innocents?


33 posted on 12/26/2006 5:11:44 PM PST by Kid Shelleen ( If a liberal weenie supports the UN and has never worn a “Blue Helmet” is he a chicken hawk?)
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To: ExTexasRedhead

Is this what they call a “disproportionate response"? I hope Jimmy Cater does not get upset..


34 posted on 12/26/2006 5:16:06 PM PST by Kid Shelleen ( If a liberal weenie supports the UN and has never worn a “Blue Helmet” is he a chicken hawk?)
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To: jdm

Hmmmmm..

Somalia may turn out to be as fine a Jihadist death trap as was Afghanistan and Iraq...

Soon - it may become legal EVERYWHERE to shoot militant Islamist lunatics "over baited fields"....

Semper Fi


35 posted on 12/26/2006 5:33:13 PM PST by river rat (You may turn the other cheek, but I prefer to look into my enemy's vacant dead eyes.)
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To: BallyBill
"Islamists don't do well against air power. Good thing someone figured that out."

I imagine the Ethiopian Air Force isn't real large, but they seem to be using it effectively.
36 posted on 12/26/2006 5:34:53 PM PST by BW2221
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To: jdm

This is great news. I'm betting the terrorists were thinking setting up a muzzie state was going to be a piece of cake. Die, muzzie scum


37 posted on 12/26/2006 5:41:01 PM PST by manic4organic
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To: river rat
I suspect there are quite a few Rangers who are rooting for the Ethiopians.
38 posted on 12/26/2006 5:42:33 PM PST by mware (By all that you hold dear... on this good earth... I bid you stand! Men of the West!)
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To: jdm
"Up to 1,000 Somalis [Islamic terrorists] dead in Ethiopia"

I guess we now know where all the virgins went.

39 posted on 12/26/2006 5:45:48 PM PST by The Duke (I have met the enemy, and he is named 'Apathy'!)
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To: Kid Shelleen

That's called winning the WOT and, obviously, not the Liberal philosophy. Liberals want to not offend anyone while we get beat.


40 posted on 12/26/2006 6:01:13 PM PST by ExTexasRedhead
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