''We will leave no stone unturned to integrate our Somali brothers in Kenya and
Ethiopia and restore their freedom to live with their ancestors in Somalia,''. Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys said.

AP

"I dare you to come and fight us. Do not just run," Islamic leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys said, directing his words at Ethiopia in an address before thousands of Somalis gathered in the capital, Mogadishu

"From today, I am declaring jihad against Ethiopia which has invaded our country and taken parts of our homeland. " The words of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, leader of the Islamic Council that now controls much of Somalia, on Oct. 9.

"We're saying our country is open to Muslims worldwide. Let them fight in Somalia and wage jihad, and God willing, attack Addis Ababa," Yusuf Mohamed Siad, known as Inda'ade, said.

"We will not wait for them to reach the regions governed by the ICU but we will go to them anywhere in the

country they happen to be, and defeat them," Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad, head of the ICU,said.

In an audio message released in July, Osama Bin Laden lauded the Courts and urged them to attack the transitional government, while warning foreign governments: "We pledge that we will fight your soldiers on the land of Somalia and we will fight you on your own land if you dispatch troops to Somalia."

"The war is entering a new phase," he said. "We will fight Ethiopia for a long, long time and we expect the war to go everyplace."Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad, head of the ICU

"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.