Mogadishu , Somalia, November 24, 2006 – Hundreds of Ethiopian troops reinforced Somalia's transitional government on Friday, hours after Ethiopia's prime minister said his country was ready for war with an Islamic movement that has become the most powerful force in Somalia.

Residents of Baidoa, the government's headquarters, said 138 trucks carrying Ethiopian troops arrived early on Friday

"They parked their trucks around the town," Nunay Selah said by telephone. "They are digging trenches."

Ethiopia has acknowledged sending military advisers to Somalia, but has repeatedly denied sending a fighting force.

The executive leader of the Council of Islamic Courts, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, repeated his call for a holy war against Ethiopian troops inside Somalia and called the internationally-backed government illegitimate because of its alliance with Ethiopia.

"A government is established so as to defend its people and religion, but a government harboring the country's enemy can not be a government," he said late on Thursday. "I appeal to those who still have moral authority to join the jihad against the enemy of Somalia."

Earlier, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said his country had completed its preparations for a potential attack by the Islamic courts. In a speech to parliament, Meles said his first priority was to avoid conflict with the Islamic militia, but "we can't simply close our eyes or look the other way."

The government "has completed this preparation," he added, without giving specifics.

But Ahmed interpreted Meles' comments as a sign that Ethiopia was about to attack Islamic forces and he blamed the United States.

"This declaration of war by Meles Zenawi against Somalia is something that shows that they also have the consent of the United States," Ahmed said.

Just hours earlier, more moderate members of the Islamic movement invited US government leaders to visit the capital, Mogadishu, a city that has weighed on the minds of Americans since 18 US troops were killed here in 1993.

The United States - which accuses the Council of Islamic Courts of having ties to al-Qaeda - should see for itself that the city is under control, Ibrahim Hassan Adow, the Islamic movement's foreign affairs chief, said.

"We invite US government officials to come to Mogadishu and to see the realities on the ground," he said.

The group's strict interpretation of Islam raises memories of Afghanistan's Taliban, which was ousted by a US-led campaign for harboring Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda fighters. Still, many credit the courts with bringing order. This week, the group arrested more than 100 people for watching a movie and burned sacks of marijuana and a narcotic herb called khat, saying they violated Islam.

Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991, when warlords overthrew a dictator and then turned on each other. The current administration was formed with the help of the UN two years ago, but has failed to assert any real power outside its base in the western city of Baidoa.

The Islamic Courts, meanwhile, have steadily gained ground since taking over Mogadishu in June and now control much of southern Somalia.

On Wednesday, the United States said it will support deployment of a regional force into Somalia if it will help stabilize the situation.

The force was proposed in September by the seven-nation Intergovernmental Development Authority, an East Africa grouping, and is now before the UN Security Council.

"We want to see an end to violence," US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said. "And we ultimately want to see a Somalia with a functioning government and civil order that serves the interests of the people."

The unrest in Somalia has prompted fears of a regional war drawing in Somalia's neighbors. Relations between Somalia's government and the Islamic group have been inflamed over the issue of neighboring Ethiopia, which supports the government.

AP writers Salad Duhul in Mogadishu and Les Neuhaus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, contributed to this report.

Source: AP