Ethiopian troops in armoured vehicles rolled into the central Somali town of Baidoa today and set up a camp near the home of the interim president, residents said, less than a day after Islamic militants reached the outskirts of the base of a UN-backed, but largely powerless government.

A top official in Somalia’s Islamic militia said his forces will soon seize the base of the country’s weak interim government, a move that would give radical militants uncontested authority over much of the country.