Council of Islamic Courts fighters have retreated from the main frontline after a week of artillery and mortar duels and attacks by Somalian transitional government and Ethiopian soldiers, witnesses say.

Ethiopian forces took control of Burhakaba early on Tuesday without any fighting, Jama Nur, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Mogadishu, reported.

Transitional government and Ethiopian forces have moved 40km towards the capital since taking control of Baladwayne town on Monday, he said.

The Somali government has closed the country's borders while international aid agencies have warned of a serious humanitarian disaster, Al Jazeera said.

Western front

Agencies said soldiers loyal to the Islamic Courts withdrew more than 50km to the southeast from Daynuney, a town just south of Baidoa, the transitional government headquarters.

The retreat along the western front follows the bombing by Ethiopian jets of the country's two main international airports.
The Islamic Courts forces also abandoned their main stronghold in Bur Haqaba and were forming convoys headed towards the capital Mogadishu, residents in villages along the road told The Associated Press by telephone.

"We woke up from our sleep this morning and the town was empty of troops, not a single Islamic fighter," Ibrahim Mohamed Aden, a resident of Bur Haqaba said.

Another resident, who asked not to be named, said locals were looting the food stockpile left behind by the Islamic Courts militia.

Fighters were also reportedly retreating on two other fronts in the war for control of Somalia.

On the northern front, government and Ethiopian soldiers entered the town of Bulo Barde.

"We have withdrawn as part of our military strategy," said Sheikh Mohamoud Ibrahim Suley, an official with the Islamic Courts in Mogadishu.

Battle for Baladwayne

On Monday Yusuf Dabo Geed, a Somali government officer, said: "We have taken control of Baladwayne and our forces are chasing the terrorists.

"We have killed more than 60 Islamists, wounded others and captured some as prisoners of war."
Baladwayne is 100km north of Baidoa, seat of the transitional government.

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

Following their defeat in Baladwayne, leaders of the Islamic Courts called on Ethiopian soldiers 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.

Airports bombed

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, told Al Jazeera that the bombing of Mogadishu by Ethiopian MiG aircraft injured two people, one of whom was a cleaner.
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.

"It was also reported that some of the extremists were waiting for an airlift out of Mogadishu."

In November, a UN arms-monitoring group reported that flights originating in Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Djibouti and Syria landed in Mogadishu and Baledogle.

The UN and the Somali government said that many of the flights carried arms and military supplies for the Islamic Courts. The US has also been accused of funding and arming those fighting for the government.

Photo caption

An Islamic courts fighter holds his weapon at Mogadishu's international airport December 25, 2006