Residents inspect a fire engine damaged during an Ethiopian air strike at Mogadishu's international airport Dec. 25, 2006. Ethiopian warplanes attacked two Islamist-held airfields in Somalia on Monday, witnesses said, in the most dramatic strikes yet of a war threatening to engulf the Horn of Africa. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

BEIJING, Dec. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Ethiopian jets dominated Somalia's skies on Monday and bombed the country's two main airports while ground troops captured a strategic border town, providing Somalia's internationally backed government crucial military aid in its struggle against a powerful Islamic militia, media reports said Tuesday.

    The Russian-made jets swept low over the capital at midmorning, dropping two bombs on Mogadishu International Airport, which was just recently reopened after the Islamic takeover of the city. The leader of the Islamic militia, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, flew into the airport shortly after the attack; it was not clear if he was an intended target.

    Airstrikes also hit Baledogle Airport, about 100 kilometers outside Mogadishu.

    "We heard the news of the bombs in Mogadishu so we hid in the trees away from the airstrip," said Ahanle Abukar, a guard at the airport. "They dropped a few bombs but no one was here."

    Somali troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers also drove Islamic forces out of the key border town of Belet Weyne, then headed south in pursuit of fleeing Islamic militiamen, a Somali officer said. Government troops were enforcing a 3 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.

    "Anyone who has a gun but is not wearing a government uniform will be targeted as a terrorist," said Aden Garase, a government soldier who was put in charge of Belet Weyne.

    Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Sunday that his country was "forced to enter a war" with Somalia's Council of Islamic Courts "after the group declared holy war on Ethiopia."  Since June, the group has seized control of the capital and much of southern Somalia.

    So far, Ethiopian and Somali troops have used MiG jet fighters and artillery to attack the militants, who have no military aircraft and can only return fire with much smaller mortars and recoilless rifles.

    (Agencies)