Somali government captured all of the Islamist strongholds

Gunfire rattled near Somalia's border with Kenya early on Wednesday and Ethiopian warplanes backing the Somali government streaked overhead in pursuit of fleeing Islamist forces.

The Islamists, who withdrew from their last stronghold on Monday after two weeks of war, pledged to fight on, rejecting an amnesty offer from the interim government, seeking to install itself in the capital and assert its authority, Reuters news agency reported.

The Islamists have melted into hills between the Indian Ocean port of Kismayu and the long frontier with Kenya.

Residents of Liboi, a Kenyan border post, said they saw Ethiopian fighter jets and helicopter gunships flying over the Somali town of Doble, 25 km (15 miles) away, late on Tuesday. They then heard shooting which tailed off after midnight.

Nairobi sealed the border after the Somali interim government urged it to stop the leaders of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) or foreign jihadist supporters escaping.

Eight suspected combatants were being questioned after they were arrested trying to enter Kenya near Liboi on Sunday.

An ambush that killed at least one Ethiopian soldier in south Somalia on Tuesday showed the fighting may go on, despite a lightning military offensive by Ethiopian tanks, troops and jets that routed the Islamists from Mogadishu then Kismayu.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says his forces will stay in Somalia for a few more weeks to help the government pacify the Horn of Africa nation. Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said they may stay months.

Both have called for international peacekeepers to be sent without delay. Uganda has provisionally offered a battalion, and President Yoweri Museveni was due to hold talks on Somalia with Meles Zenawi in Addis Ababa on Thursday.

Kampala has said it will only deploy when its mission and exit strategy are clearly defined. Nigeria may also offer help.

The Islamists vowed to "rise from the ashes", and a day after Ethiopian armor rolled into the southern town of Jilib a resident said a Somali gunman killed two Ethiopian troops.

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