Conflicting news between Ethiopia, Eritrea

News reports are in contradiction on the volume of human casualties in fighting between Ethiopia and Eritrea on Friday and Saturday, while each side had announced that it inflicted heavy losses on the other.

On Sunday Eritrean radio said that the Eritrean troops killed some 850 Ethiopian soldiers, wounded 3,100 and held as prisoners some 13 in retaliation for an attack against the Ethiopian forces during the two past days.

For its part, Ethiopia said in a military statement that it killed, wounded or took captive some 5,950 Eritrean soldiers.

The statement added that Ethiopian planes bombarded the city of Asab, which overlooks the Red Sea, but Eritrea said that the bombardment resulted in no damage to the airport of the city because the shells were dropped on a wasteland.

The Ethiopian statement accused the Eritrean forces of launching repeated attacks against the district of Mereib river in an attempt to control certain positions which the Ethiopian forces control.