Ethiopian tanks roll in Somali battle's fourth day

By Hassan Yare

BAIDOA, Somalia (Reuters) - Ethiopian tanks rolled to the battle front on Friday as Somali Islamists and pro-government troops pounded each other with artillery and rockets in a fourth day of clashes starting to take the shape of a war.

Witnesses near the fighting on two fronts to the southwest and southeast of the government's encircled stronghold, Baidoa, said they heard the rumble of armor before dawn.

If the tanks engage in the battle it would raise the stakes in what is already the most sustained combat so far in a fight many fear could mushroom across the Horn of Africa.

The Western-backed but largely ineffective government and the Somali Islamic Courts Council (SICC) say they have killed hundreds of each other's troops in four days of fighting across the desolate, brushy flatlands around Baidoa.

Those figures could not be independently verified.

"I was awakened this morning by heavy sounds of tanks. I woke up and saw seven Ethiopian tanks heading toward Daynunay," Baidoa resident Abdullahi Ali told Reuters.

Farmer Mohamed Adan said he saw the tanks moving outside Baidoa: "There were nearly 20. I understand some have been sent toward Daynunay while others have gone toward Idaale."

Daynunay is the government's forward military base about 20 km (12 miles) to the southeast and Addis Ababa has said it has military trainers -- but not combat troops -- there.

The other front, Idaale, is 70 km (44 miles) southwest of Baidoa, the only town the government controls.

DEADLINE PASSED

The battle began late on Tuesday, as an SICC deadline for Ethiopian troops to leave Somalia or face a holy war passed.

The SICC has taken control of most of southern Somalia by dint of its military might and imposition of strict sharia law.

Washington and its top counter-terrorism partner in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia, say the SICC is led by an al Qaeda cell, which the military-religious movement denies.

The SICC says it has the popular support the government sorely lacks and has brought peace to a nation demolished by anarchy since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre's 1991 ouster.

Most of the latest combat has taken place in uninhabited areas on the front across which the two rivals, vying to install the first effective central rule in Somalia in nearly 16 years, have sat tensely for two months.

Witnesses have said Ethiopian soldiers are taking part in the battles, and have reported that an Ethiopian military helicopter was flying over Baidoa on Wednesday.

A government security source told Reuters the Ethiopians have 20 T-55 tanks and four attack helicopters in Baidoa.

It was not possible to confirm if the tanks were involved in the fighting. The Ethiopian government had no immediate comment.

Experts and diplomats say Eritrea is backing the SICC with weapons and up to 2,000 troops to frustrate its archenemy Ethiopia, but Asmara denies that. Experts say Ethiopia has between 15,000-20,000 troops in Somalia, which it denies.

(Additional reporting by Bryson Hull in Nairobi and Guled Mohamed in Mogadishu)