( CNN ) -- Islamist militants took almost full control of Mogadishu on Thursday , less than 24 hours after Ethiopian troops withdrew from Somalia 's capital , a witness reported . Ethipian troops invaded Somalia in 2006 . The Ethiopian forces pulled out their last remaining bases in the city late Wednesday after two years propping up Somalia 's transitional government . Forces from different Islamist groups -- including the hard-line al-Shabab , which the United States has designated a terror organization -- immediately seized every base the Ethiopians abandoned . `` The city is almost under Islamist rule , '' said a local journalist who did not want his name revealed . `` You can hear different names of the Islamist groups taking control in many parts of the city . '' The journalist said the militants were in `` full force '' in most of Mogadishu . However , they had yet to claim control of the city 's seaport , the presidential palace and a major junction on the south side . Ethiopia invaded Somalia in December 2006 to install a U.N.-backed transitional government in Mogadishu after a decade and a half of near-anarchy . The invasion had the blessing of the United States , which accused the Islamic Courts Union that captured Mogadishu earlier that year of harboring fugitives from al Qaeda . The Islamists responded with a guerrilla campaign against government and Ethiopian troops . Efforts to replace the Ethiopians with an African Union-led peacekeeping mission faltered as the violence worsened , and heavy fighting in Mogadishu and other cities drove hundreds of thousands from their homes . The lawlessness also spilled onto the seas off the Horn of Africa , where international vessels are routinely hijacked by suspected Somali pirates who demand large ransoms . And the transitional government was wracked by a power struggle between Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein and President Abdullahi Yusuf , who resigned in December . Hussein said Thursday that he would run for president now that Ethiopian troops had gone . Ahmed attempted to fire Hussein for being ineffective . But Hussein said the president did not have that power , and the vast majority of members of parliament backed Hussein in a vote of confidence .
U.S.-designated terror group among militants seizing control of Mogadishu . The U.S. State Department said it was aware that al-Shabab had taken over the city and urged all Somalis to stay away from it. Ethiopians were propping up U.N.-backed transitional government .