By Guled Mohamed

MOGADISHU, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Ethiopian jets fired missiles on Somali Islamist fighters retreating on Tuesday from frontlines after a week of war in the Horn of Africa nation.

Despite a retreat the government was already calling a partial victory, the Islamists insisted their withdrawal and re-grouping was a tactic in what they vowed would be a long war.

"Two planes attacked heavily in the last 30 minutes. I can confirm three dead," said an Islamist fighter.

The strike at Leego -- just east of Buur Hakaba, a town recaptured by pro-government forces on Tuesday -- would be the third day of air attacks by Ethiopian planes backing the interim Somali government against Mogadishu-based Islamists.

Addis Ababa and Washington say the Islamists, who hold most of southern Somalia after seizing Mogadishu in June, are backed by al Qaeda and by Ethiopia's enemy, Eritrea.

Thousands of Somali Islamist fighters crammed into camouflage-painted trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns headed out from Mogadishu and elsewhere to reinforce comrades-in-arms beaten back from frontlines around the government base Baidoa.

"We will fight to the last man until we ensure there are no more Ethiopian troops in our country," Islamist spokesman Abdi Kafi said. "The struggle continues."

On Monday, Ethiopian fighter jets attacked two Islamist-held airfields, including one in the capital Mogadishu in a symbolic first strike on the movement's stronghold.

A week of heavy artillery and mortar duels between Islamists and the Ethiopian-backed secular government has spiralled into open war that both sides say has killed hundreds. Diplomats fear the fighting will draw in Eritrea on the side of the Islamists.

"What is happening in Somalia is very, very dangerous and will have consequences in the Horn," Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu told Reuters in Asmara.

After the Islamist withdrawal, residents and local militiamen looted Buur Hakaba, 30 km (20 miles) east of Baidoa, stealing boxes of food and medicine, witnesses said.

"The town is in total chaos," said resident Adan Hassan.

A businessman in Dinsoor, a town about 100 km (60 miles) southwest of Baidoa also recaptured by pro-government forces on Tuesday, said hundreds of families fearful of more fighting had escaped to neighbouring villages in their vehicles and donkey carts piled high with their belongings.

LONG WAR?

Analysts say Ethiopia's arsenal of heavy arms and MiG warplanes appeared to have halted the initial Islamist onslaught and saved the government from being overrun in its south-central base Baidoa. Some diplomats believe Ethiopia may now target Mogadishu to secure outright victory.

"The Islamic Courts troops are retreating, some all the way to Mogadishu," government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said by telephone from Baidoa. "This is the first stage of victory ... When this is all over, we will enter Mogadishu peacefully."

Despite hopes of a quick win, the government fears renewed assaults or a guerrilla campaign, particularly from hardliners within the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC), Dinari said.

The government offered amnesty to any Islamists who lay down their guns. "The government will not take revenge," Dinari said.

Senior Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said the war had merely entered a new phase. "Since Ethiopia started using air power and heavy artillery, we have changed our tactics and we are getting ready for a long war," he told reporters.

The Islamists claim broad popular support and say their main aim is to restore order to Somalia under sharia law after years of anarchy since the 1991 ouster of dictator Siad Barre.

Addis Ababa fears a hardline Muslim state on its doorstep and accuses the SICC of wanting to annex Ethiopia's ethnically Somali Ogaden region.

(Additional reporting by Sahal Abdulle in Mogadishu, Hassan Yare in Baidoa, Ibrahim Mohammed in Jowhar, Andrew Cawthorne in Nairobi and Jack Kimball in Asmara)

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