Fighting continues between Ethiopia, Eritrea

Ethiopia has announced that its warplanes downed a second Eritrean MiG plane near the western front of Padmi, which has been the focal point of fierce air and land battles between the Ethiopian and Eritrean forces since last Tuesday.

The spokeswoman for the Ethiopian government, Saloumi Tadisi, refused to give more details on downing the plane, but noted that that Eritrea's forces suffered great losses and the Ethiopian side controls the situation.

A diplomatic source in Addis Ababa confirmed the downing of the plane at a site near Padmi front which is 990 km north of Addis Ababa. The source added that Eritrea was reinforcing its presence on the front by bringing military units from other two fronts.

For its part, Eritrea on Friday admitted that the Ethiopian army achieved victories during battles with the Eritrean army on the western front. A spokesman for the Eritrean government said that the Ethiopian forces were able to sneak into Eritrea's defense lines at one point on Padmi front.