MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Islamic militiamen are fighting Ethiopian troops in a southern Somalia town, a top Islamic official said Friday.
If true, it will be the first time the Islamic militia that control most of southern Somalia will have fought directly with Ethiopian troops.
"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.
"Stand up and overcome the enemies who have invaded our land," he told the people, who had gathered to protest a U.N. resolution allowing an African peacekeeping force into Somalia.
Islamic militiamen seized Dinsor on Saturday without encountering any resistance or firing a single shot. On Sunday, hundreds of Somali transitional government troops backed by Ethiopian troops began amassing near Dinsor, sparking fears in the town of heavy fighting, forcing dozens to flee.
The Council of Islamic Courts, the official name of the group that controls much of southern Somalia, organized protests in three major towns against a U.N. resolution to allow an African peacekeeping force for Somalia and easing an arms embargo so the force can operate in Somalia.
Earlier Friday, an Islamic courts official claimed that Ethiopian troops had shelled the central Somalia town of Bandiradley, while residents of a nearby village said they had seen Ethiopian troops and tanks take up new positions near the town.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/12/08/ethiopia.somalia.ap/
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