ONFL GUUL IYO GOBANIMO
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia's Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels said they killed 140 government soldiers in a weekend assault targeting a visiting senior official.
The rebels, who want more autonomy in their eastern region of Ethiopia bordering Somalia, said the attack on Saturday wounded other troops protecting the senior official and resulted in the seizure of ammunition and other military hardware.
"This operation was a direct response to the burning of Caado village recently and the continuing abuses against the people of Ogaden," the ONLF said in a statement on Sunday.
The Ethiopian government had no immediate comment.
Both sides routinely claim to inflict large numbers of casualties on the other, but the reports are difficult to independently verify in the remote region.
The ONLF is an ethnically Somali group and is active in the eastern part of Ethiopia.
It accuses the government of routinely harassing the population in the Ogaden and humanitarian organisations have confirmed reports of soldiers burning villages or restricting the flow of aid to the population..
The ONLF in April attacked an oil field run by a Chinese company, killing at least 74 people including six Chinese oil workers.
Ethiopia calls the ONLF a terrorist organisation backed by foe Eritrea.
