Hundreds of residents fled their homes today during a second day of fighting between Islamic insurgents and Somali and Ethiopian troops in which at least four people were killed and six wounded.

A top leader of Somalia's ousted Islamic movement, apparently afraid for his life now that the once-powerful militia has been chased into hiding, surrendered to authorities and is in custody in neighbouring Kenya, officials said today.

Somali government troops backed by Ethiopians today prepared to launch a major assault on the last stronghold of Islamic movement militiamen.

SOMALIA’S interior minister said yesterday that thousands of fighters loyal to the deposed Islamic Courts régime still pose a threat in the capital, while a Somali government spokesman said government troops — backed by Ethiopian soldiers — are fighting about 600 Islamic militiamen in the south of the country.

Somalia's Islamic movement abandoned the nation's capital today and clan militiamen poured into the streets to take control of Mogadishu, as government forces approached to within 18 miles.

Somalia’s Islamic movement abandoned the nation’s capital today and clan militiamen poured into the streets to take control as government forces came within 18 miles.

Ethiopian jets dominated Somalia’s skies today and bombed the country’s two main airports while ground troops captured a strategic village.

Ethiopian fighter jets bombed Mogadishu International Airport in the middle of Somalia’s capital today.

Ethiopian fighter jets bombarded the Somali town of Belet Weyne today in a sharp escalation in violence that is threatening to engulf the volatile Horn of Africa.

Somalia’s transitional government and its Islamic group have agreed to return to peace talks, officials said today.

NEARLY 200 troops serving Somalia’s weak Western-backed government defected to the Islamic courts movement, an Islamic official said yesterday, as both sides braced for impending war.

Somalia’s president today said peace talks with the country’s Islamic movement are no longer an option because the group’s leaders have declared war on his government.

The top UN official for Somalia today called on the world to do everything possible to prevent war in Somalia and help 1.8 million people there in dire need of help.

Thousands of Islamic militants today surrounded the only town Somalia’s government controls, the prime minister said.

Government forces backed by Ethiopian troops have clashed for a second day with Islamic militiamen near a village in southern Somalia, officials said.

Residents of a southern Somalia town who do not pray five times a day will be beheaded, an Islamic courts official said today, adding the edict will be implemented in three days time.

Officials of Somalia’s Islamic courts held informal talks with an Ethiopian minister in neighbouring Djibouti during which they said that the group would only hold talks with Ethiopia once it withdraws its troops from Somalia, the group’s foreign affairs chief said today.

Hundreds of Ethiopian troops reinforced Somalia’s transitional government today, hours after Ethiopia’s prime minister said his country was ready for war with an Islamic movement that has become the most powerful force in Somalia.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi today said his country has completed its preparations for a potential attack by Islamic militants from neighbouring Somalia, who have declared a holy war on his country.

Hundreds of Ethiopian troops were patrolling the road that leads to Somalia’s government headquarters after a brief but intense battle in the area this week, witnesses said today.

Hundreds of female supporters of Pakistan’s largest Islamic group protested today against government amendments to controversial rape laws.

Somalia’s most powerful politician today offered the country’s Islamic movement a role in government, but said it must pull back its militia to avert a looming war.

Heavy fighting erupted in northern Somalia today as Islamic forces clashed with militia backed by Ethiopian troops, an Islamic official said.

Hundreds of Islamic militiamen in heavily armed trucks took over the southern town of Kismayo, one of the last seaports that had been outside their control in Somalia, witnesses said.

Gunmen killed an Italian nun and her bodyguard at the entrance of a hospital where she worked in Somalia, in an attack some feared could be linked to Muslim outrage over the Pope’s recent remarks about Islam, officials said today.

Somalia’s virtually powerless government and an Islamic militia that has seized control of much of southern Somalia have signed an agreement to eventually form a unified national army.

Unknown gunmen have killed 682 civilians, including a foreign journalist, in executions over the past year in Somalia, a local human rights group said in a report today.

Hundreds of Ethiopian troops moved into a second Somali town yesterday to protect the country’s weak, UN-backed government, as talks aimed at easing tensions fell apart when the government did not turn up and Islamist militia delegates walked out.

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden issued a message on the Internet today addressing Islamist militants in Iraq and Somalia.

Residents of Mogadishu attended Friday prayers after a week of relative calm under the control of an Islamic militia, but many wondered if the peace can last in the hands of radicals accused of links to al-Qaida.

Nigeria has vowed to block Islamic courts from carrying out any executions by stoning.

The Nigerian president says he will weep if a single mother sentenced to death by stoning for having a child out of wedlock is killed.

Thousands of Northern Alliance troops today advanced on al-Qaida fighters trapped in the surrounded city of Kunduz, and senior commanders said Taliban troops inside the city had agreed to lay down their arms this weekend.