The Somali ruling Islamic Courts issued an official statement on Monday, in order to announce its rival African country Ethiopia that it faces an imminent holy war, given its continuous defiance of the Mogadishu-established pro-Islamic new government. The latest alleged help provided by Ethiopia to the interim Baidoa-based government involved military aid in taking over a Somali city, which had been under the control of the Courts.

"Starting from today, we have declared jihad against Ethiopia", the Islamic Courts Union's leader Sheikh Sharig Ahmed declared in the formal statement. "Heavily armed Ethiopian troops have invaded Somalia. They have captured Buur Hakaba. History shows that Somalis always win when they are attacked from outside," he added. The Islamists' Defense Minister, Sheikh Yusuf Mohammed Siad, highlighted that Ethiopia actually dispatched no less than 35,000 soldiers inside Somalia: "This is a clear war. We are telling the Ethiopians to leave our country or be responsible for whatever happens".

In spite of the fact that Ethiopian officials continued to deny the string of events and their involvement, Somali interim President Abdullahi Yusuf's presidential office confirmed the news regarding the takeover attempt on the town of Buur Hakaba, only 60 kilometers from Baidoa, the first military operation of this kind to ever be led by the Somali provisional chief of state ever since the Islamic Courts Union took control of the capital city of Mogadishu and much of the southern part of the country in June this year.

The takeover represented a strategic move operated by the Somali President against the Islamists, given that the little town is on the road to Mogadishu. The residents of the city confirmed the news of government fighters and Ethiopian soldiers' presence there before the Islamists managed to recapture it a few hours after. However, they reported that there had been no takeover battles on either side, with each party retreating in view of the other one's progress.