MOGADISHU, Nov 28, 2006 (AFP) - Somalia's powerful Islamist movement accused neighboring Ethiopia of shelling an Islamist-held central Somali town on Tuesday, ratcheting up tension and fears for all-out war.

Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, leader of the executive wing of the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS), said Ethiopian forces were attacking Bandiradley, about 630 kilometers (394 miles) north of Mogadishu.

"Ethiopian soldiers have massed around Bandiradley and started firing missiles toward our positions," he told a crowd of more than 10,000 people in the capital, denouncing the Ethiopian presence in Somalia and the United States.

"Their tanks are trying to surround the area and now they are about 10 kilometers (six miles) away from the town where our fighters are based," Ahmed said.

There was no immediate independent confirmation of the claim.

The Islamists seized Bandiradley earlier this month from a local militia allied with the weak, Ethiopian-backed Somali transitional government, bringing them to their northernmost point in the country.

The move took them to within 100 kilometers (62 miles) of the semi-autonomous enclave of Puntland, where authorities have vowed to resist the Islamist advance toward the region's main town of Galkayo.

Puntland has strong ties with Ethiopia and when Bandiradley fell to the Islamists on November 12, residents of Galkayo reported large movements of Puntland troops accompanied by Ethiopian military convoys.

Ahmed's claim of Ethiopia shelling the town comes as fears for a full-scale war between the Islamists and the Ethiopian-backed government have skyrocketed with many concerned it could spark a wider regional conflict.

The Islamists took Mogadishu in June and now control most of southern and central Somalia while the government is confined to its seat of Baidoa, the only town it controls.

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