Ethiopia pushes deeper into Somalia

Thousands of Ethiopian troops, backed by aircraft, artillery and tanks, have escalated a military offensive against fighters from the Islamic Courts Union. The Ethiopians, backing fighters loyal to so call "interim government", captured the town of Baladweyne on Monday.

They also bombed airports to prevent the courts from rearming and moved further into courts-held territory.

Yusuf Dabo Geed, a puppet "government" officer, said: "We have taken control of Baladweyne and our forces are chasing the terrorists".

"We have killed more than 60 Islamists, wounded others and captured some as prisoners of war."

Baladweyne is 100km north of Baidoa, seat of the so call "transitional government".

The offensive came after thousands of Ethiopian occupation soldiers prevented the Islamist Courts Union from surrounding and capturing Baidoa, the only major city under pro-US puppet "government" control.

Following their defeat in Baladweyne, leaders of the Islamic courts called on the Ethiopian troops to withdraw.

Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim Bilal, a senior Islamic commander, said: "We call on the international community to act soon about this violation."

Both sides have reported killing hundreds of their opponents in the recent fighting, but the claims could not be independently confirmed.

Also on Monday, Ethiopian fighter jets bombed the airports of Mogadishu and Baledogle, Somalia's largest military airfield 100km to the west.

Ibrahim Hassan Adow, the foreign secretary of the Islamic Courts Union, told Al Jazeera that the bombing of Mogadishu by Ethiopian (russian) MiG aircraft injured two people, one of whom was a cleaner.

"Ethiopian attacks against Somalia have no limits. It seems the entire world is silent about it."

Ethiopia said it bombed the airport in order to halt the supply of arms to the courts.

Solomon Abede, the Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman, said: "It was attacked because illegal flights were attempting to land there.

The puppet "government" said that it was "closing the country's borders".

This is little more than a symbolic measures as the puppet "government" controls little more than the town of Baidoa while the country's long borders are largely unmarked.

However, aid agencies said they feared that the measure would hamper their attempts to send food and medical supplies into the poverty-stricken country.