Holy war call issued against Ethiopians

Somalia’s top Islamic leader called Friday for a holy war against Ethiopia to drive out troops the largely Christian nation sent to protect the internationally backed Somali government.

The radical Islamic forces control more of Somalia than the government, and have made clear they consider themselves the legitimate authority in the country.

Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, in an angry radio broadcast, said Ethiopia deployed troops to the government’s base in Baidoa, 150 miles northwest of Mogadishu, to bolster what he described as a puppet regime.

“I am calling on the Somali people to wage a holy war against Ethiopians in Baidoa,” said Aweys, who is accused by the U.S. government of ties to al-Qaida. “They came to protect a government which they set up to advance their interests.”

Ethiopian and Somali government officials have denied Ethiopian troops are in the country, though witnesses from five towns have reported seeing them. The government’s deputy information minister, Salad Ali Jeele, maintained Friday that people were seeing government militia wearing uniforms given to them by Ethiopia.

PANGANDARAN, Indonesia

Tsunami fatalities increase to 659

The death toll from the Indonesian tsunami earlier this week rose to 659 after emergency workers reached a previously inaccessible area along Java island’s southern coast, the government said Saturday.

Drajat Santosa, an official at the government’s National Disaster Management Coordinating Board, said nearly 100 bodies were found in a part of Ciamis district that had been cut off by a broken bridge.

The toll climbed to 659 with 330 others missing, he said. Previously, the government said 547 had been killed.

A powerful earthquake on Monday sent towering waves crashing into a 110-mile stretch of Java’s southern coast, destroying scores of houses, restaurants and hotels.

BEIJING

Tropical storm deaths rise sharply

China’s death toll from tropical storm Bilis more than doubled to 482 after a hard-hit inland province reported a sharp rise in fatalities, state media said Friday.

Authorities in Hunan province said 346 people died in floods triggered by the storm, while 89 others were missing, the Xinhua News Agency said. The province previously reported 92 deaths.

Bilis slammed into China’s southeastern coast on July 14 and churned inland, triggering flooding and landslides. Nearly 3 million people were forced to flee their homes, the government said.

The higher death toll in Hunan included 197 victims in the village of Zixing, where a state television reporter found the local government had underreported the number of deaths, Xinhua said.

Luo Xiwu, a Communist Party official from Zixing, was quoted by Xinhua as saying the disaster caused a “breakdown of communication and traffic systems,” which made it hard for authorities to collect information on deaths and damage.