Eritrea immediately denied the allegation made by Ethiopia’s defence ministry. The ministry claimed that its security forces had killed 111 people, wounded 18 and captured 107 “anti-peace forces” operating on Eritrea’s behalf in the northern Ethiopian state Amhara.
It said Ethiopian soldiers had seized nine heavy machine guns, 61 assault rifles, four rocket propelled grenade launchers, seven anti-tank weapons with ammunition and 76 hand grenades from the rebels.
"They had dispatched themselves in the area to disturb the peace and stability," spokesman Dawit Assefa said. The rebels had been found around Gonder, about 100 kilometers from the Eritrean border.
“They were armed with machine guns and they planned to attack the Ethiopian defense forces, but the army knew they were around and was able to stop them," he said.
Claims rejected
Eritrea flatly rejected the claim, calling it "baseless" and accused the Ethiopian government of blaming it for its internal problems. "Eritrea is not involved in any way," said Yemane Gebremeskel, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki's cabinet director.
Mr Gebremeskel maintaining that Addis Ababa regularly falsely accuses his country of creating unrest, "It is a routine accusation, nothing new," he told news agency AFP. "Whenever Ethiopia has actions by their opposition, they attribute it to Eritrea.”
Both countries regularly accuse each other of attempted to destabilise it. But in recent months Ethiopia has increased the number of accusations against Eritrea.
It's accusing Eritrea of providing material for a series of mystery blasts that rocked the capital and provincial towns since January. Eritrea angrily denied those claims.
The two countries fought a bitter border war over between 1998 and 2000, which killed 80,000 people. Tensions have run high ever since over the peace agreement, which has yet to be fully implemented.
The United Nations describes the situation on the border as "tense."