© 2006 The Associated Press
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Fighting broke out Friday in the southern Somali town taken by the Islamic militias that control much of the country, but the government denied claims that Ethiopian troops had led an attack.
A top Islamic official said militiamen fought Ethiopian troops in the southern town of Dinsor, and he called on Somalis to defeat "the enemies who have invaded our land."
If confirmed, it will be first direct fighting between the militias and Ethiopian troops. But a minister of the Somali government said the clashes were between his forces and the Islamic militia challenging the government for control of Somalia. He denied Ethiopians, who back his government, were involved.
"New fighting has started in Dinsor. Our forces have been raided by Ethiopian troops, so people get up and fight against the Ethiopians," Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed told a crowd of hundreds after Friday prayers. Islamic militiamen seized Dinsor on Saturday without encountering resistance or firing a shot.
"Stand up and overcome the enemies who have invaded our land," he told the crowd, which had gathered to protest a U.N. resolution allowing an African peacekeeping force into Somalia.
Deputy Defense Minister Salad Ali Jelle told The Associated Press that Islamic militiamen attacked first, fighting government troops at their base in Safarnoolees, a village 20 miles north of Dinsor.
"The Islamic courts have attacked our base near Dinsor and we are defending our base," Jelle said. He said no Ethiopians were fighting with the government.
Ethiopian troops were first reported in Somalia in June, soon after the Islamic courts took the capital, Mogadishu. Ethiopia has always said it has only a few hundred military advisers in Somalia to help the transitional government form a national army, but a confidential U.N. report obtained by the AP in October said 6,000-8,000 Ethiopian troops were in Somalia or along the border.
The report also said 2,000 soldiers from Eritrea were inside Somalia. Eritrea denies having any troops in Somalia.
Demonstrations were held in several towns throughout Somalia against Wednesday's U.N. resolution, which eases a 14-year arms embargo on Somalia so an African force can equip itself. The resolution stopped Somalia's neighbors _ Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya _ from contributing troops.
Earlier Friday, Sheikh Abdullahi Ali Hashi, a spokesman for the Islamic courts, claimed Ethiopian troops had shelled the central Somalia town of Bandiradley, while residents of a nearby village said Ethiopian troops and tanks had taken up positions near the town.
Witnesses in a village near Bandiradley said hundreds of Ethiopian troops and tanks had taken up positions near the town.
They said that this new movement puts these forces and their rival Islamic courts' militias just over a mile apart.
Associated Press writer Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu, Somalia contributed to this report.
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