2 Sudanese officers killed in border clashes with Ethiopian forces: Sudanese source

KHARTOUM, Sudan

Two officers in the Sudanese army were killed on Saturday in armed clashes with Ethiopian forces on the border between the two countries.

A Sudanese military source told Anadolu Agency that the two officers were killed in the disputed Al-Fashqa border area.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that the Sudanese army had also suffered other casualties as Ethiopian forces carried out an incursion into the Sudanese territory.

Earlier on Saturday, the Sudan Tribune news website reported that the Sudanese army had repelled an attempt by the Ethiopian troops and its allied the Amhara militia to push deep into Sudan.

The website said Ethiopia aims to support farmers in its northern Amhara region to harvest land they planted in Sudanese territory, as well as to cut off Tigray rebels fighting Ethiopian forces further south for the Bahir Dar area, also in Amhara.

Neither side made any official comments.

With a 1,600-kilometer (994-mile) border, Sudan and Ethiopia recently renewed a conflict for the al-Fashqa Triangle, a decades-long disputed border area lacking definite demarcation.

While Khartoum said on Dec. 31, 2020, that it imposed its control over the Sudanese territory where Ethiopian militias were present, Addis Ababa accuses Sudan's military of occupying Ethiopian territory, as well, a claim its northern neighbor denies.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara