Mogadishu, Somalia ? The leader of the Islamic militia that seized Somalia’s capital said Saturday that 300 Ethiopian soldiers had entered the country to help his rivals, but he promised not to attack the weak government that represented his only challenge.

An Ethiopian official denied Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed’s claims, but said his government had massed troops along the border and was monitoring the Islamic militants’ advance across the country.

Ahmed said the Ethiopian troops entered the country Saturday morning through the southwestern border town of Dolow.

He also held out an olive branch to the transitional government, which currently is based in Baidoa, 155 miles northwest of the capital, Mogadishu.

Ahmed’s Islamic Courts Union captured Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, on June 6 after months of fighting with an alliance of warlords backed by the United States.

Ethiopians were key power brokers in forming President Abdullahi Yusuf’s transitional government in 2004. Yusuf, a former warlord, had asked for Ethiopian troops to back up his government.