Fierce battle took place over the weekend between Ethiopian army fighters and Tigray rebels that crossed the border from neighboring Sudan.
Unverified reports reaching APA claimed that hundreds of fighters of the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) were routed during the fighting.
Sudanese regular soldiers allegedly backing the Tigray forces, took part in the border skirmish in which 40 of them were killed, according to Ethiopian military sources.
With Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed taking personal command of the fighting at the warfront, the Ethiopian army appears to be on the front foot as it pushed back joint Tigray and Oromo rebel force with an estimated strength of 6000 troops, the sources said.
Ethiopian federal troops entered the disputed “Al-Fashqa” region which the Sudanese army took control of in November 2020 as fighting between TPLF and Ethiopian army erupted.
Heavy artillery and machine gun fire characterised the fighting which lasted seven hours on Saturday morning.
Lt-Colonel Ibrahim Al-Houri, Editor-in-chief of the Armed Forces newspaper, said that the “Sudanese army suffered 6 martyrs in Al-Fashqa” bringing to 90 the number of Sudanese troops killed in the border clashes since April 2020.
He said TPLF is suffering a crushing defeat and lost several locations of strategic significance.
However the conflict appears to be far from over as many areas in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, including in Shoa – central Ethiopia, are under the control of TPLF forces.
MG/abj/APA