New front opens in Somalia as Ethiopian fighter jets strike (1st Update)

Mogadishu/Addis Ababa
- Fighting between Somalia's Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) and troops loyal to the government erupted on a new front on Sunday, as Ethiopia acknowledged for the first time to fighting against troops loyal to the UIC.
Forces loyal to the UIC and the government have been clashing for five days on several fronts near the government's base in the western town of Baidoa, some 250 kilometres west of the capital Mogadishu.
Ethiopian jet fighters allegedly struck Baladweyne, 320 kilometres north of Baidoa, killing at least 50 UIC troops, witnesses and officials said.
'I saw two fighter jets bombing the outskirts of Baladweyne. They killed two people in a displaced camp for the flood-affected people,' said Abdurahman Sheikh Omar, a witness in Baladweyne. 'They also targeted a UIC recruitment center but no casualties can be confirmed.'
Fighting continued on several fronts on Sunday, as fear of a regional war continued to mount, after Ethiopia admitted it sent fighters to the country.
'The Ethiopian National Defence Forces on Sunday started taking measures to foil the attack launched against Ethiopia by fundamentalist forces gathered in Somalia,' a Defence Ministry spokesman said.
Addis Ababa had previously said it sent several hundred military trainers to prop up the transitional government, but witnesses near the front lines said earlier this week they saw Ethiopian tanks and helicopters involved in the conflict.
The Defence Ministry also said its forces took 'decisive measures' against 'terrorist forces that attempted to infiltrate into Ethiopia to launch attacks.'
The UIC have vowed to wage jihad (holy war) on any Ethiopian troops in the country. Ethiopia, the greatest military power in the Horn of Africa, has long branded the UIC terrorists.
On Thursday, UIC leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys said the group was not fighting the government, but rather the Ethiopian troops said to be in the country training the government forces. The Somali transitional government has also denied that Ethiopian troops are fighting alongside its forces.
The first clashes erupted overnight Tuesday in Idale, 60 kilometres south-west of Baidoa, a day after an EU envoy had successfully pushed the warring sides to agree to attend peace talks. Tuesday also marked a one-week deadline given to Ethiopia by the UIC to remove its troops or face attacks.
As of Sunday, a stretch of about 700 kilometres was embroiled in the fighting with both sides reporting heavy casualties.
In the capital Mogadishu, street protests against Ethiopia raged on Sunday, with angry residents burning tires and urging anyone over 15 to head to the front lines.
'We are taking our guns to fight against Ethiopia. We will commit all tactics including suicide attacks if they don't stop the occupation,' said 14-year-old Hussen Hirre Abdi at a Mogadishu protest.
The UIC dramatically rose to power this year, taking the capital Mogadishu in June and a series of other southern and central Somali towns afterwards. They seek to establish a religious state based on Islamic Sharia law, drawing in ethnic-Somali regions of Kenya and Ethiopia as part of a 'united Somalia.'
The weak transitional government, divided and limited to its base in Baidoa, is the 14th attempt at establishing central rule in the country.
Somalia has been without a strong government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohammed Siad Barre by warlords plunged the country into lawlessness