MOGADISHU: Ethiopian warplanes attacked two Islamist-held airfields in Somalia on Monday, witnesses said, in the most dramatic strikes yet of a war threatening to engulf the Horn of Africa.
The attacks — one of them on the capital Mogadishu — came after neighbouring Ethiopia formally declared war, saying it was protecting its sovereignty against a movement run by terrorists. A MiG fighter struck Mogadishu’s international airport with machine-gun fire, airport managing director Abdirahim Adan said.
Three jets later attacked Somalia’s biggest military airfield at Baledogle, 100 km west of Mogadishu. “They are targeting the runway and I can see it being hit,” said an Islamist fighter who asked not to be named.
A week of fighting between Islamists and Somalia’s Ethiopian-and Western- backed secular government has turned long-running hostilities into open war. After an initial Islamist assault, analysts say, it seems Ethiopia has prevented the Islamists from achieving their aim of overrunning the interim government.
Addis Ababa and the Washington say the Islamists, who hold most of southern Somalia after seizing Mogadishu in June, are terrorists backed by Ethiopia’s enemy, Eritrea, and by Al-Qaeda. Ethiopia has vowed to protect the government, which is virtually encircled by Islamist fighters in the town of Baidoa, halfway between Mogadishu and the Ethiopian border.
Fighting continued for the seventh day on Monday near Daynunay, outside Baidoa, between fighters loyal to the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) and government troops backed by Ethiopian tanks, artillery and air strikes. The government said it was closing all borders — a largely symbolic measure given that it has little power beyond Baidoa.
Ethiopia said it had attacked the airport to stop “illegal flights” following the closure of Somalia’s borders. “It was also reported some of the extremists were waiting for an airlift out of Mogadishu,” an Ethiopian spokesman said.
