Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Somalia's Islamist forces withdrew from Mogadishu to avoid ``a bloodbath'' as government troops advanced on the capital, a leader of the Muslim militia said.

``We don't want to see Mogadishu destroyed,'' Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, chief of the executive council of the Union of Islamic Courts, told Al Jazeera today in a televised interview. The Islamist group left weapons behind because they were in a ``hurry'' to flee, and plan ``to fight, not negotiate,'' he said.

Ethiopia sent troops to neighboring Somalia to bolster the United Nations-backed interim government and combat the Islamists, who seized control of Mogadishu in June and imposed Islamic law as they moved across the country. The U.S. accuses the militia of links with al-Qaeda, and the Ethiopian government says their campaign threatens regional security.

Somali government troops entered ``some areas'' of the capital today after the Islamists' withdrawal, Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi told reporters in Afgoye, 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of Mogadishu, Agence France-Presse reported. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said his forces killed 2,000 to 3,000 Islamists in the operation, AFP reported.

Refugees Die

At least 17 Somalis and Ethiopians died and about 140 are missing after the boats being used to smuggle them from Somalia capsized off Yemen late yesterday, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement on the agency's Web site. Yemeni forces fired on two of the boats after the passengers got off, the agency said. Many of the Somalis and Ethiopians told the UNHCR they were escaping from the conflict.

The agency today said it is reinforcing its operations in northeastern Kenya and in Ethiopia ``in preparation for a possible exodus of tens of thousands of people fleeing fighting in Somalia.''

Somalia has seen factional fighting between warlords since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. Somalia is in the Horn of Africa, at the entrance of the Gulf of Aden. The Gulf leads to the 166-kilometer Suez Canal, one of the world's most important shipping lanes.

Annan Warning

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned in November the conflict could engulf the region, amid accusations that neighboring Ethiopia and Eritrea had sent troops to Somalia.

Ethiopia's troops in Somalia are ``under the control'' of Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf, the president's adviser, Yousef Omar Al-Azhari, told Al Jazeera in an interview from Kenya.

An Arab League spokesman called on Ethiopia to withdraw its troops immediately.

``The war now is between Somalia and the U.S., not Somalia and Ethiopia,'' Eritrea's Information Minister Ali Abdu said in an interview on Al Jazeera. ``If this fighting continues, Somalia will be another Iraq. Entering Somalia is easy, but getting out is much more difficult.''

Eritrea, which gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993, fought a 1998-2000 border war with its larger neighbor.

The UN said in a report that the Islamists are getting equipment from Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Lebanon's Shiite Muslim Hezbollah militia. Ethiopia and Uganda are helping the government, and Yemen is helping both sides. All of those mentioned in the report have denied the allegations.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tarek Al-Issawi in Dubai talissawi@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 28, 2006 11:50 EST