Somali Islamists and troops defending the government's only stronghold battled with rockets and heavy weapons today at two frontline areas.
However, a top Islamist leader denied it was the start of war. "The war has not started. This is a small incident," Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys told reporters after meeting visiting European Union aid chief Louis Michel.
Mr Michel, on a diplomatic push to get the Islamists and rival interim government back to the negotiating table, said the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) had agreed to resume peace talks in Khartoum without conditions.
"They have accepted our proposal," he said, with both men calling it a "breakthrough". The talk of fresh negotiations was in stark contrast to two days of clashes that have heightened fears of a Horn of Africa conflict a day after the expiry of an Islamist deadline for government-allied Ethiopian troops to leave.
With a battle under way 70 km southwest of the government's surrounded outpost Baidoa since late on Tuesday, another clash erupted today just 25 km southeast of the town on a strategic part of the frontline.
The newest clash took place between the government's forward base in Daynunay and Buur Hakaba, the furthest point where Islamist forces had advanced along the road from their headquarters in the traditional Somali capital, Mogadishu.
The SICC, which has used its military might to spread Islamic sharia law across most of southern Somalia, said it was sending reinforcements from Mogadishu to the front.
Already, the two sides exchanged artillery fire in Idaale, southwest of Baidoa, after a gunfight between reconnaissance units broke out late on Tuesday. At least three fighters were killed and two injured in that battle, both sides said.
With a battle under way 70 km southwest of the government's surrounded outpost Baidoa since late on Tuesday, another clash erupted today just 25 km southeast of the town on a strategic part of the frontline.
The newest clash took place between the government's forward base in Daynunay and Buur Hakaba, the furthest point where Islamist forces had advanced along the road from their headquarters in the traditional Somali capital, Mogadishu.
The SICC, which has used its military might to spread Islamic sharia law across most of southern Somalia, said it was sending reinforcements from Mogadishu to the front.
Already, the two sides exchanged artillery fire in Idaale, southwest of Baidoa, after a gunfight between reconnaissance units broke out late on Tuesday. At least three fighters were killed and two injured in that battle, both sides said.