Ethiopia, Eritrea exchange accusations

The Ethiopian government on Sunday said that more than 8,200 Eritrean soldiers were killed or wounded since last Wednesday on the eastern and western fronts of the war between the two countries.

Eritrea described "fighting over the weekend along the central flank of the Mereb-Setit front line as heavy." adding "Two Ethiopian MiG-23 fighter planes were shot down yesterday morning around 9:00 a.m. On Friday, one Ethiopian MI-35 helicopter gunship was shot down while five Ethiopian tanks were destroyed on Friday and Saturday," adding "although casualty figures from yesterday's fighting were not yet available, Ethiopian cumulative losses for Thursday, Friday and Saturday amounted to over 12,210 soldiers killed and wounded."

Eritrean official sources said that some 3,800 Ethiopians were wounded in the latest confrontation that took place in Merieb Seitbet on the border that extends for 11,000 kms between the two countries. The sources added that "The Burie and Alitena-Mereb fronts were relatively quiet apart from diversionary shelling and small scale Ethiopian attacks that were quickly crushed. But fighting on the central flank of the Mereb-Setit front resumed early this morning."

The Ethiopian authorities did not comment immediately on Eritrea's latest statements.

Meanwhile, the spokeswoman for the Ethiopian authorities, Saloumi Tadis, said, "The usual Eritrean forged facts aim at attracting the attention of the media."

However, one of the battles started on Thursday on the Western front, near Badmi, in which war erupted last year. Each side accused the other of starting the conflict.