ADDIS ABABA, Dec 26, 2006 (AFP) - Ethiopia on Tuesday said its warplanes would press on pounding "selected targets" in Somalia as Islamist forces retreated from several frontlines which came under heavy attack by Addis Ababa.

"The Ethiopian Air Force (will) further intensify pounding selected targets" in its lawless neighbour, the information ministry said in a statement, adding that it had "inflicted heavy damages on institutions" controlled by Islamists.

Ethiopian forces, backing Somali government troops, seized control of several towns in central and southern Somalia after they launched an air assault against positions controlled by anti-government Islamist fighters.

"The fundamentalist group in Somalia has been retreating in disarray unable to resist the counter-offensive launched by the Ethiopian National Defense Force and the transitional government of Somalia on Monday," the ministry said, referring to the Islamists.

Addis Ababa backs the weak transition government in Somalia and has accused the rival Islamist forces, who control large swathes of the lawless east African nation, of threatening the security of Ethiopia.

Heavy fighting began on December 20 after the expiry of an ultimatum by the Islamists for Ethiopia to pull its troops out of Somalia, heightening fears of a conflict that could draw in Ethiopia's foe, Eritrea.

"The fundamentalist group, the Eritrean government, the OLF, ONLF and international mujahideens have incurred heavy human and material losses," the Ethiopian statement said, referring to the rebel Oromo Liberation Front and Ogaden National Liberation Front operating in southern Ethiopia.

The statement from Addis Ababa came a day after Ethiopian warplanes bombarded an airport in Islamist-held Mogadishu and another outside the capital.

In Mogadishu, the Islamists said they would dig in for a long term war against Addis Ababa.

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