BEIJING, Dec. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Somalia's Islamic forces are "at war with Ethiopia," a leader of Somalia's Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) said Thursday.

    "We are at war with Ethiopia, but not with the (Somali) government," the leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, told the media by telephone.

    The latest fighting started on Tuesday, the deadline UIC had given "Ethiopian troops protecting the government to leave."

    Meanwhile, the Somali government troops and UIC militias shelled each other with heavy artillery for a third day on Thursday.

    A UIC spokesman said it had "captured the town of Idale," 37 miles southwest of Baidoa, the government's encircled stronghold, and killed 200 Ethiopian troops. 

    Persistent rocket, mortar and machinegun battles have boosted fears that a Horn of Africa war, sucking in regional players and spawning suicide bombings across east Africa, may have arrived.

    On Wednesday, Aweys told EU envoy Louis Michel that he was willing to return to peace talks with the government, but now efforts by European diplomats to broker a peace deal appeared to have failed.

    Ethiopia has denied its forces are fighting, but said it has deployed several hundred military trainers in support of the Somali government.

    (Agencies)