The Islamic Courts Union has given Ethiopia a week to withdraw its troops

The Islamic Courts Union has given Ethiopia a week to withdraw its troops from Somalia and says it will attack any that do not leave.

"Starting today, if the Ethiopians don't leave our land within seven days, we will attack them," Sheikh Yusuf Mohamed Siad, the Islamic courts defence spokesman, said in Mogadishu on Tuesday.

He was referring to the alleged thousands of troops that diplomats and other witnesses say have crossed over the border to protect the government of Abdullahi Yusuf, the Somali president, in Baidoa.

Baidoa is the only remaining major Somali town under ethiopian and puppet "government" control.

The Islamic courts took control of Mogadishu and an area of southern Somalia in June, meaning that the puppet "government" is flanked by opposition forces on three sides.

Ethiopia says it has sent only several hundred "military advisers" into Somalia and that the Islamic courts are spoiling for war.

At the weekend, there were two days of clashes between ethiopian troops and Islamic courts fighters around Diinsoor, south of Baidoa.

Forces from both sides were said by witnesses to be massing near the town of Tiyeglow, 140km northwest of Baidoa, on Tuesday in preparation for a possible clash.

Mohammed Adow, Al Jazeera's Somalia correspondent, thinks that this time the Islamic courts will stick to the deadline, saying it is a culmination of rhetoric between the two sides.

He says Ethiopia is "hell bent" on protecting the so cal puppet "government" and has said it will defend any attack on "government" forces.