Mogadishu, Somalia ? Islamic fighters hiding in Mogadishu since their movement’s main force was driven from the Somali capital say they will heed al-Qaida’s call for guerrilla attacks and suicide bombings against Ethiopian troops whose intervention was key to the Islamists’ defeat.

“I am committed to die for the sake of my religion, and the al-Qaida deputy’s speech only encourages me to go ahead with my holy war,” 18-year-old Sahal Abdi said, referring to an audio message posted Friday on the Internet.

Troops of Somalia’s transitional government, backed by the Ethiopian military, routed the Islamic militia from much of southern Somalia, ending its six months in power. The group had brought a semblance of stability here but terrified residents with a version of Quranic rule that included public executions and floggings of criminals.

Interviews with militants who fought with the Council of Islamic Courts and went underground when most of their comrades fled Mogadishu last week suggest their movement is fractured and cut off from its leaders but still motivated for battle.

Somalia’s interior minister says 3,500 fighters are hiding around the capital, raising the specter of an Iraq-style guerrilla war as diplomats meeting in neighboring Kenya agreed Friday on a plan to raise a foreign peacekeeping force for Somalia.

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, urged the Islamic movement’s fighters and other Muslims to attack the troops of Christian-dominated Ethiopia, which he called a “crusader” invasion force.

“Launch ambushes, land mines, raids and suicidal combats until you consume them as the lions and eat their prey,” al-Zawahri said in the taped message that aired on a Web site frequently used by militants and carried the logo of al-Qaida’s media production wing, al-Sahab.

Ethiopia, a U.S. ally, has fought two wars with predominantly Muslim Somalia, most recently in 1977, and the Islamic movement has invoked traditional hatreds to rally its supporters.

Al-Qaida’s call for revenge came at a precarious time for Somalia’s government, which controlled one town before Ethiopia stepped in with MiG fighter jets, tanks and well-trained soldiers.

Ethiopia now wants to pull its force out in a few weeks, saying its soldiers cannot be peacekeepers, and it cannot afford for them to stay.

A meeting of U.S., European Union, African and Arab diplomats ended Friday in Kenya with a U.S. pledge to provide $40 million to Somalia in political, humanitarian and peacekeeping assistance.