The Ethiopians announced late last year they would end their unpopular presence as demanded under an October power-sharing deal signed between the Somali government and a relatively moderate faction of the Islamists.

But the Ethiopian pullout has sparked fears of a power vacuum because few expect the government can ensure security even with the help of the Islamist faction with which it has agreed to share power. The government controls only pockets of the capital, Mogadishu, and Baidoa, where parliament sits — and has tried to rule without a president for weeks.

Rival Islamic groups control other areas of southern and central Somalia, with the al-Shabab making the most dramatic gains in recent months. The al-Shabab's push also has fueled fears of extremist Islamists gaining power in Somalia.

The U.S. State Department considers al-Shabab a terrorist organization with links to al-Qaida, which the group denies. Al-Shabab has said in recent days that Ethiopia's withdrawal would not stop it from fighting because the group's goal is to establish an Islamic state in Somalia.

Meanwhile, gunmen abducted an Egyptian teacher in Somalia's relatively peaceful northwestern breakaway republic where such kidnappings are rare, officials said Wednesday.

Mohamed Mustafa Ibrahim was stopped late Tuesday as he went to a mosque in Burao, located in the self-declared Republic of Somaliland.

He was bundled into a car and taken to an undisclosed location, said Jama Abdullahi, a senior government official.

Police were searching for the kidnappers, said Ahmed Saqadhe Dubad, Somaliland's police chief.

Last year saw a rise in kidnappings in Somalia with foreigners often being targeted for ransoms on land and off Somalia's lawless coast, where pirates are holding about a dozen ships. At least six foreign aid workers and journalists remain in captivity in Somalia.

However, it is rare for abductions to take place in northwestern region of Somaliland, which declared its independence from Somalia in 1991 and has its own regularly elected government, parliament and judiciary. The breakaway republic has avoided much of the chaos and anarchy that exists in the rest of the country.