Ethiopia sends forces into Eritrea

Ethiopian forces entered Eritrea yesterday to avenge the murder of five European tourists, The Financial Times (FT) reported.

There was no immediate information as to any casualties in the operation, which saw Ethiopian troops move about 10 miles over the Eritrean border. 

Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman Dina Mufti told FT that the attack on three military targets in Eritrea "is a proportionate act, we are responding to what the Eritreans have done."

Eritrea says it had nothing to do with the kidnapping and killing of the tourists in Ethiopia's remote Afar region in late January.

Tensions are high between the two neighbouring nations, with Ethiopia's recent military intervention in nearby Somalia, in which it took out Islamic extremists allegedly supported by Eritrea, the latest in a bitter shared history, reported Agence-France Press. 

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Some 70,000 people died in the Ethiopian-Eritrean war of 1998-2000. This fresh unrest sparks fears of a return to violence in the region.  

Yesterday's raid, however, marks the first military effort of its kind in over a decade, according to FT, a move Mufti played down as an effort to “safeguard security along its border.”

Language between the two nations has becoming increasingly hostile since the killing of two Germans, two Hungarians and an Austrian in northern Ethiopia last month, with Ethiopia on Thursday accusing Eritrea of being a “hit-and-run terrorist," reported FT.

The two countries also have a long-standing dispute over Badme village along their shared border. The small town is still located in Ethiopia despite a 2002 Hague-based Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission ruling handing it to Eritrea, according to The Scotsman.  

Eritrea was locked in a decades-long guerilla warfare with Ethiopia before declaring independence in 1993. 

The United Nations has also sanctioned Eritrea over its believed backing of al-Shabab, an Islamist rebel group, in Somalia. Eritrea says it does not support the group.