Last Stand In Somalia

Somalian government troops and Ethiopian forces report having about 600 islamist fighters completely surrounded. They are cutting off any escape routes and are promising to kill or capture all of the fighters. US Navy forces are assisting as well by cutting off escape by sea.

In the past 10 days, Ethiopian-backed government forces have driven out the Islamic movement that had controlled Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia for more than six months. The Islamic movement retreated to the southern tip of Somalia and vowed to keep fighting, raising the specter of an Iraq-style guerrilla war.

The Somali forces have surrounded the Islamic militiamen "from every direction" in the southwestern district of Badade, near the Kenyan border, government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari told The Associated Press. "The fighting is going on," Dinari said. "We hope they will either surrender or be killed by our troops."

Kenya sent extra troops to the Somali frontier and closed its border, fearing an exodus of refugees and foreign fighters.

Dinari said some Islamic militants have been trying to escape by sea. "But U.S. anti-terrorist forces have been deployed there to prevent them from escaping," he added.

In Washington on Wednesday, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said U.S. Navy vessels were deployed off the Somali coast looking for al-Qaida and allied militants trying to escape.

Good for them. They really need to finish this thing and not let it drag out. They also need to completely head off the islamists reverting to terror tactics by letting them escape. Unless Ethiopia wants an "insurgency" (read murderous islamist terrorism) on its border which will spill over, they have to end this with a smashing victory.