The Woyannie Regime says, it killed 500 Ogadenians
ADDIS ABABA, August 8, 2007 (Reuters) - Woyannie di-information center said on Wednesday it had killed more than 500 rebels and captured 170 in the past two months during an offensive in the volatile but energy-rich Ogaden region bordering Somalia.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) dismissed the statement as an attempt by the regime to lure oil companies interested in the region into a "false sense of security," and urged foreign firms to stay away.
The local president of Ogaden, Abdullahi Hassan Mohammed, said Woyannie security forces had killed 502 ONLF fighters in a two-month military campaign against the ONLF.
"Rebel activities in the region... have been eliminated," he added in a statement.
But the ONLF, which carried out a deadly attack on a Chinese-run oilfield in the area in April, said the regime was trying to hide the fact that it had lost control of Ogadenia.
"Pursuing oil and natural gas exploration activities in Ogaden at this stage can only be characterised as gross corporate irresponsibility," the rebels say.
In the attack on the Chinese-run oilfield, they killed 74 people and kidnapped seven workers.
"Recent claims that the government has been able to realise military gains are designed to give a false sense of security to oil companies," the ONLF added in its statement.