ZURICH, Dec 26 (Reuters) - At least 800 casualties have been reported to hospitals and clinics in Somalia since Ethiopia began air strikes against Islamists, the Red Cross said on Tuesday.
Ethiopian warplanes fired missiles on retreating Somali Islamist fighters near the government outpost of Baidoa on Tuesday. It was the third day of Ethiopian air attacks in the escalating conflict. "Over 800 war wounded have arrived at the various medical structures around Baidoa and Mogadishu is the last few days," said Antonella Notari, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross.
As the situation remains confused, 800 is not an overall figure for wounded but it is "an indication of the fighting," Notari told Reuters in a telephone interview.
"Thousands of people are fleeing the combat areas. It is too early to tell if this is a temporary displacement," Notari said. "We will obviously also follow this situation extremely closely."
Ethiopia backs Somalia's secular interim government against the Islamists who hold most of southern Somalia after seizing Mogadishu in June. Addis Ababa and Washington say the Islamists are backed by al Qaeda and by Ethiopia's enemy, Eritrea.
The Islamists claim broad popular support and say their main aim is to restore order to Somalia under sharia law after years of anarchy since the 1991 ouster of dictator Siad Barre.