MOGADISHU, March 08, 2007 – A firebrand Somali Islamist commander called on Wednesday for an uprising against Ethiopian and African Union troops deployed in Somalia just as fresh reinforcements arrived from Uganda.

"It is time for the Somali youth to fight the occupation of Ethiopia and others," Aden Hashi Ayro said in an audio tape broadcast by a local radio station.

"The Muslims shall not surrender to non-believers," he said, describing himself as the commander of the Islamic Courts movement in the audio tape sent to Mogadishu-based Koran Radio.

"We will fight for the name of Allah and our country. Let us bring together all our forces to fight the enemy of Somalia."

Blood-stained identification documents belonging to Aden Hashi Ayro, believed by Western intelligence to be a veteran of the anti-Soviet uprising in Afghanistan, were discovered after two US gunship attacks in southern Somalia in January.

Officials said Ayro appeared to have survived the attacks.

Washington believes that fugitive Islamist leaders fled after the US air raids in January and might be reorganizing in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Eritrea.

Somali forces and their Ethiopian allies have been battling an insurgency since they routed the powerful Islamist movement from south and central Somalia in January.

The current AU mission is the first international peacekeeping venture since an ill-fated UN-backed, US-led peace mission launched in the early 1990s.

Source: AFP