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 MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Nearly 200 troops serving Somalia's Western-backed government defected to the Islamic courts movement, an Islamic official said Sunday, as both sides braced for impending war.
Sheik Mohamed Ibrahim Bilal, head of the Islamic court in the Al-Bayan region, said the troops switched sides there late Saturday. Bilal told the Associated Press by telephone that the former government soldiers "are ready to be incorporated into the Islamic courts forces."
The court movement has promised to launch a holy war Tuesday unless troops from neighboring Ethiopia, who are supporting the government, leave Somalia. Islamic fighters have surrounded the southern Somali town of Baidoa, the only town the government controls.
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