Ethiopia says foils Eritrea-sponsored attacks

ADDIS ABABA, Aug 15 (Reuters) Ethiopian security forces have foiled an attempt by Eritrean-sponsored insurgents to assassinate officials and destroy public institutions, the state-run Ethiopian News Agency reported today.

The two Horn of Africa nations have been at loggerheads since a 1998-2000 border war that killed 70,000 people and both governments routinely accuse each other of sponsoring dissidents in each others' countries.

''This latest attempt of terrorism was found to be an orchestration of the rogue government in Asmara, which handed down the mission to the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF),'' the report said.

The OLF is an armed group fighting for greater autonomy in the ethnically Oromo regions of Ethiopia.

''The latest attempt was targeted at bombing infrastructure and public institutions and assassinating public figures,'' the agency said.

Eritrean officials were not immediately available for comment.

Security forces arrested the coordinators and many of those sent to carry out the attacks, the report said, without giving numbers.

Nine explosive devices, 12 fuses and a Kalashnikov rifle were confiscated, the agency said, adding that people should be vigilant against attacks aimed at disrupting forthcoming millennium celebrations.

Ethiopians will mark the start of a new millennium on Sept. 11.

The country follows its own Orthodox calendar that is almost eight years behind that of the West.

REUTERS SLD PM1525