Fighting continue on the Eritrean, Ethiopian front

Spokeswoman for the Ethiopian government Saloumi Tadisi said on Thursday that battles between Ethiopian and Eritrean forces which resumed on Sunday continue on the central front. The spokeswoman added that fighting continues on the central front in Zala Anbiza Egala, but gave no mention of how fierce these battles are.

She also called for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Eritrean forces from the Ethiopian lands, as the only action which would be conducive to establishing durable peace between the two countries.

An Eritrean foreign ministry statement today to ArabicNews.com said "The (Ethiopian) army has sustained considerable losses in the fighting on the Mereb-Setit front in the past two days. Ethiopia opened new attacks on this front on Wednesday in the aftermath of, and to cushion its devastating defeat at, the Tsorona front last Tuesday."

The statement added that " In two days of fighting between March 17th and 18th on the Mereb-Setit front: One MiG-35 helicopter gunship was captured (yesterday); Four Ethiopian tanks and three Ural vehicles carrying ZU-23 anti-aircraft guns were destroyed; and Two tanks were captured intact."