<http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6300933,00.html> Ethiopia Launches Airstrikes in Somalia Sunday December 24, 2006 11:46 AM AP Photo NAI101 By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN Associated Press Writer
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Ethiopian fighter jets pounded several Somali towns held by a powerful Islamic militia, a sharp escalation in violence that threatens to engulf the volatile Horn of Africa in widespread violence.
Ethiopia confirmed the attacks, the first time it has acknowledged that its troops were fighting in Somalia, though witnesses have reported their presence for weeks.
The airstrikes hit the strategic town of Belet Weyne on the Ethiopian border and surrounding villages up to 12 miles away, said Sheik Mohamoud Ibrahim Suley, an official with Somalia's Council of Islamic Courts. A resident of Belet Weyne - Ayanle Husein Abdi - said the strikes hit a strategic road and a recruiting center.
<http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L24185282&WTmodLoc=IntNewsHome_C4_Crises-3> Ethiopia fights rival Somali Islamists Sun 24 Dec 2006 8:23 AM ET By Hassan Yare
BAIDOA, Somalia, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Ethiopian forces defending Somalia's weak interim government launched airstrikes on Sunday against Islamist fighters in an escalation of a conflict that threatens to engulf the Horn of Africa.
Ethiopian Information Minister Berhan Hailu said the operation targeted several fronts including Dinsoor, Bandiradley and Baladwayne and the town of Buur Hakaba -- close to the administration's encircled south-central base Baidoa.
It was the first use of airstrikes and Ethiopia's first public admission of its military involvement in Somalia, whose government is surrounded by fighters of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) backed by mortars and machineguns.
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