MOGADISHU — The Shebab Islamist insurgent group warned Ethiopia on Sunday that any military intervention in Somalia will result in “heavy” losses for its neighbour.

Ethiopian troops, who ended a three-year incursion in Somalia in 2009, were reported to have once again crossed the border last week as part of an offensive against the Shebab, a claim denied by the government in Addis Ababa.

“This intervention will not be different than that of yesterday and will lead to heavy loss of your soldiers’ lives, and be assured that ahead of you is painful death and ruthless imprisonment which will impact on the good living standards you wished for,” the Shebab statement said.

“We warn Ethiopia against another military intervention into Somalia,” it said.

“The path you are taking today is the same that led you yesterday to taste death, the pain of bullets and the hardships of war,” it read.

East African leaders urged Ethiopia on Friday to support Kenyan, African Union and Somali troops battling Shebab rebels in the war-torn Horn of Africa state.

Kenya deployed forces in October to fight the Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents in southern Somalia, while the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) is based in Mogadishu where it protects the weak Somali government from the rebels.

Ethiopia’s Foreign Affairs spokesman Dina Mufti said his country’s contribution “will be worked out soon.”

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