Eritrea and Ethiopia Battle Along Border
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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Eritrean and Ethiopian troops clashed along their disputed border Saturday, with each side accusing the other of instigating the latest round of fighting.
Ethiopia said late Saturday that its army had inflicted “heavy losses” at Badme and had seized the Eritrean military outpost at nearby Geza Gerlase.
But in a statement faxed to news agencies, the Eritrean government claimed to have routed Ethiopian troops attacking on the Mereb-Serit front, 60 miles southwest of Asmara, the Eritrean capital. More than 100 Ethiopian soldiers were captured, the statement said.
Eritrea fought a 30-year war against Ethiopia and was granted independence in 1993, but sections of their common border were never demarcated.
The two northeastern African countries went to war again in May. After a few weeks of air raids and artillery attacks, the conflict settled into sporadic skirmishes.
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