ETHIOPIA: ERITREAN FORCES BOMB BORDER TOWN OF ADIGRAT

Описание: (12 Jun 1998) Natural Sound

Eritrean forces bombed the Ethiopian border town of Adigrat on Thursday, killing at least four people and injuring a further thirty.

Helicopters and warplanes dropped at least eight bombs -
two hit a combined industrial-residential area setting grain warehouses on fire.

Eritrean government sources said they bombed the border town because Adigrat was being used by the Ethiopians as a centre for army logistics and a staging post for military attacks.

Eritrean planes and helicopters launched an air attack on the Ethiopian town of Adigrat on Thursday evening killing at least 4 people and wounding around thirty.

Adigrat, a town of around 40-thousand people, is a mere 35 kilometres from the Eritrean border

Witnesses said that two Eritrean military helicopters flew over the town at around 5.30 p-m local time (1430 GMT) and dropped four bombs by parachute.

Minutes later a fighter jet fired rockets around the offices of the local relief association, hitting a grain store.

Residents fought large fires to rescue what they could from the town's vital food stores

Adigrat was full of civilians and was already a refuge to around 15-thousand people who had already fled the border conflict.

The Eritrean government said in a statement that it bombed Adigrat because the Ethiopians had turned it into the main garrison for reinforcing Ethiopian forces.

Dozens of residents began leaving town for the safety of outlying villages, fearing further shelling.

Eritrean rebels fought Ethiopia for 30 years to gain independence in 1993.

It came two years after helping Ethiopian rebels under Meles Zenawi - who is now Ethiopia's prime minister - oust a 17-year military dictatorship

Eritrea accuses Ethiopia of provoking the attack on Adigrat by bombing the military-civilian airport at the Eritrean capital of Asmara on June 5th
and 6th, in which four people were killed and 26 wounded.

Observers are predicting a retaliatory strike by Ethiopia, and its troops were in readiness, manning artillery and rocket launchers, aimed at the Eritrean border.

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