A 25-YEAR-old Australian man has been killed fighting in war-torn Somalia. The man is thought to have been killed late last month during skirmishes with Ethiopian troops.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade yesterday confirmed the Muslim man from Melbourne had been killed.

"Consular officials have been in touch with the man's family in Australia who confirm that the man was killed fighting in Somalia, but the circumstances are unclear," a DFAT spokeswoman said.

Christian-led Ethiopia invaded Somalia, a predominantly Islamic nation, in December last year to try and oust fundamentalist Islamists who took power in the Horn of Africa nation in June.

Since the invasion the Islamists have lost power and Somalia's Transitional National Government has taken control.

After the invasion by Ethiopia, Somali Islamists urged foreign Muslim fighters to join their "holy war" against Ethiopia.

"Our country is open to Muslims worldwide. Let them fight in Somalia and wage jihad," the Islamists defence chief Yusuf Mohamed Siad Inda'ade said in late December.