Eight killed in northwest Ethiopia blast

March 13, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA) — Eight people have been killed in an explosion Thursday in northwestern Ethiopia, government officials said, and Ethiopia said rival Eritrea was responsible.

But Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu dismissed Ethiopia’s accusation as: “total rubbish.”

Tigray State Vice President Abadi Zemo said a bomb attached to a bus exploded in Humera, about 600 kilometers northwest of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Humera is in Tigray State and borders Sudan.

Federal Police spokesman Demsash Hailu said that eight people died in the explosion and 26 people were wounded, including an 11-year old child.

Demsash and Abadi both said the Eritrean government is behind the blast. “There is no doubt,” Abadi said.

Ethiopia and Eritrea regularly trade accusations and denials that one seeks to destabilize the other.

The two Horn of Africa neighbours, which fought each other in a two-year war ending in 2000, are locked in a bitter impasse over their 1,000 km (620 mile) border.

(AP)