Nairobi: The Eritrean government said on Friday that the attack on its military outposts by neighboring Ethiopia was meant to divert attention from a border dispute between the two countries.

Ethiopia said yesterday it carried out a ground assault on the outposts because Eritrea was training "subversive groups" that carried out attacks inside Ethiopia.
No details about the military operations or any damage or casualties have been released.
"It is patently clear that the Ethiopian regime could not have unleashed such a flagrant act of aggression with such audacity without the protection and succor of the United States in the Security Council," said Eritrean Foreign Affairs Minister Osman Saleh. Eritrea routinely accuses the United States of overlooking abuses by Ethiopia, a key US ally in the region in its war against terror.
"The government of Eritrea, urges for the umpteenth time, the UN Security council to shoulder legal and moral responsibilities and to take appropriate measures to rectify acts of aggression against Eritrea`s sovereign territories and to ensure justice and the respect of the rule of law," he said.
Osman said such attacks have been going on for the last 10 years and yesterday`s assault was meant to divert attention to the fact that Ethiopia occupies Eritrean territory. Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a border war from 1998 to 2000.
He said the timing of the attack appears to have been deliberately chosen to coincide with the tenth anniversary of a ruling by a boundary commission, which it says, ruled in its favor.
PTI