Mogadishu Domestic Service radio (in Somali) 1115 GMT

A total of 352 Ethiopian soldiers were killed and another 176, including an officer, were captured in fierce fighting between the Ethiopian Army and commandos of the liberation movements at Babile and Gorowo near the regional capital of Harar on the 13th of this month.

The reports reaching us from the liberation movements added that the Ethiopian soldiers who went into battle only with great reluctance were exterminated together with their officers.

Large quantities of arms and ammunition were also captured, the reports said.

The reports from the liberation movements also disclosed that fierce fighting between the Ethiopian Army and the freedom fighters also took place earlier this week at Sheikh Hussein in Bale Province, where another 78 soldiers were killed and two military trucks loaded with arms and rations were completely destroyed.

In a night encounter between the Ethiopian Army and freedom fighters at Duhun in the Harar Province, the Ethiopian Army suffered heavy casualties and losses in arms and ammunition.

The freedom fighters also set on fire the army camp and destroyed the communication center as well as the fuel tanks!

The reports from the liberation movements added that there had been fierce fighting at (Pur Bakini?), only 5 km southeast of Harar city, where the Ethiopian Army sustained heavy losses in arms and ammunition.

_{FBIS-SSA-77-117, 17 June 1977, p. B3}