At least 800 wounded people have gone to hospitals and clinics in Somalia since Ethiopia began air strikes against Islamists, the Red Cross said on Tuesday, giving an indication of the scale of the fighting, according to Reuters. Ethiopian warplanes fired missiles on retreating Somali Islamist fighters near the government outpost of Baidoa on Tuesday. It was the third day of Ethiopian air attacks in the escalating conflict. "Over 800 war wounded have arrived at the various medical structures around Baidoa and Mogadishu in the last few days," said Antonella Notari, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross. As the situation remains confused, 800 is not an overall figure for wounded but it is "an indication of the fighting", Notari told Reuters in a telephone interview. There was no indication of the numbers of dead. "Thousands of people are fleeing the combat areas. It is too early to tell if this is a temporary displacement," Notari said. "We will obviously also follow this situation extremely closely." The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees also warned further displacement could put severe strain on already overstretched relief resources in the region. Although there has been no sizeable movement to neighbouring countries yet, UNHCR has reports of "several thousand people on the move" inside Somalia. "Relief workers in the region are already struggling to contend with huge obstacles, including security and natural disasters," High Commissioner Antonio Guterres said in a statement. "The last thing we and the people of Somalia need is yet another round of massive displacement." The agency said fighting earlier this year between the Islamists and Somali warlords sent some 34,000 Somalis fleeing to Kenya. Ethiopia backs Somalia's secular interim government against the Islamists who hold most of southern Somalia after seizing Mogadishu in June. Addis Ababa and Washington say the Islamists are backed by al Qaeda and by Ethiopia's enemy, Eritrea. 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 ousting of dictator Siad Barre.
